Team ZARC
by Haunted Leopard
Summary: Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud were all minding their own business when they each met an early demise. The Lifestream decided to give them another chance and spits them all out on Remnant. The four end up going to Beacon the same year as Teams RWBY and JNPR. Will these four change Remnants fate? Slight AU where Cloud is a 3rd Class SOLDIER and not an infantryman. 3 main pairings
1. Zaffre Trailer

Zack was sitting with his beautiful girlfriend Aerith in the little church she owned down in the slums. He leans forward and gives Aerith an Eskimo kiss, grinning at hearing the giggles that emit from her. He presses his lips to Aerith's lips and captures her in a gentle and loving kiss. Neither notice the quiet footsteps walking on the wooden boards towards them as the two share their moment of bliss. A moment too late does Zack notice something wrong as he feels a blade pierce through him and by the faint gasp, he knows Aerith was also pierced. Zack knew it was Sephiroth that killed him and Aerith but he didn't have time to think about what happened as the sword was removed from him and he collapses to the ground, his vision going black.

The next thing Zack sees is green. Just a swirling stream of green. He knew where he was. It was the Lifestream. A sigh escapes from his lips as he floats in the Lifestream. He hoped that he could at least SEE Aerith, knowing that she too was sadly dead. Zack was startled from his slight wallowing by a voice calling out his name. He looks around, whipping his raven haired head around to find the source.

" _Worry not Zack Fair. I am the voice of the Lifestream. I have a proposition for you and three others like you,_ " the voice says.

"A proposition? And who are these other three?" Zack questions, easing slightly at now knowing the voice.

" _Yes, a proposition. You already know one of the people. The other two you will find out should they accept it. You see, you and the other three died prematurely. I am giving you a chance at a new life. You'll be in a different world that needs help,_ " the voice explains.

"Alright... What happens to me if I accept this?" Zack asks, wanting to make sure that he was getting all the details before accepting.

" _You'll be going to a school to help fight monsters. As such, you will aged back to 17. There may be a few changes to your body but it uncertain what those changes could be. You'll keep your weapon and any abilities you already have however,"_ the voice says. " _Are these terms acceptable?"_

"Yeah. Give me my new life! I still have to prove my worth as a 1st Class SOLDIER!" Zack says, after deciding that a few changes wouldn't be so bad.

" _Very well Zackary Fair. I wish you luck in your new life,_ " the voice says, sounding pleased if the voice of the Lifestream could have emotions. A bright and blinding light envelopes Zack as he is sent hurtling towards this new world, his vision going black once more.

Zack groans as he wakes up. He opens his eyes and looks at his surroundings. He noticed a lot of trees and that he was laying on grass. It was a welcoming sight to him as it reminded him a little bit of his home village Gongaga. After sitting up, he places his hand on his head as if to run through his raven spikes but noticed something... Off. Both hands rise up and his eyes widened. He had animal ears! Jumping up and twisting around to see what other changes had happened, he spotted a black tail coming out his backside. And not just any tail... A wolf's tail! He was part wold. Zack groans, knowing that Angeal was probably laughing his ass off at the sight of SOLDIER's Puppy actually being part wolf. With a sigh, Zack grabbed the buster sword that was laying next to where he was standing and puts it on the magnetic holster on his back.

"Guess I should try to find some civilization shouldn't I? Maybe see if Aerith is nearby. She's probably worried sick and alone right now," Zack says as he starts to walk through the forest. Since the voice had mentioned monsters, he was already on the lookout for anything suspicious. He was actually a little happy that he was now part wolf as his senses were even MORE enhanced. It was a little odd for things to be this enhanced but he could deal with it. As he walks through the forest, he hears some growling get closer to him. A gloved hand immediately grips the handle of the buster sword in preparation. A loud roar breaks through the otherwise quiet forest and a large soulless black bear with a white and red bone mask on its face bursts through the bushes in front of Zack. Instinctively, Zack draws the buster sword and immediately launches himself at the beast. He brings the sword down in a diagonal manner from upper left to lower right. With more effort that he usually used, he was able to slice the beast in half. He watches as the monster disintegrates, knowing that he probably was only able to defeat that monster as it had yet to actually attack and had only released a battle cry. Upon hearing more roars, Zack's attention snaps to the direction he heard them in and putting the sword on his back, he starts running towards the noise, hoping that Aerith, if she was here, was not anywhere near the source of the roaring. He gets to the clearing and sees another bear similar to the one he fought before, however this time it had more bone plating and spikes on it. A flash of pink catches his eyes and he spots Aerith.

"Aerith!" Zack calls out, going over to the girl who was rather glad to see him.

"Oh Zack, thank goodness you're here too!" Aerith says, a fancy looking stave in her hand. "But I think we have a bit of a problem..."

"Haha! Have no fear! I'm here too, yo!" "Zack! Aerith!" two voices rang out. Aerith and Zack were quite shocked to see who joined them.


	2. Amaranth Trailer

Aerith was happily sitting in her church in the slums with her wonderful, and rather silly, boyfriend Zack. She giggles when he leans forward and gives her an Eskimo kiss. She admires the large grin that appeared on his face as a result of her giggles. Upon feeling Zack's lips on hers, she kisses back, returning the love and gentleness into the kiss. Neither notice the quiet footsteps walking on the wooden boards towards them as the two share their moment of bliss. Aerith realized everything was too late when she felt a blade pierce her and a gasp escapes her mouth. There was only one person that she could think of that would kill both her and Zack that had a long enough blade to pierce them both - Sephiroth. Soon enough the blade was removed and she falls to the ground alongside Zack, her vision fading to black quickly.

Green. Voices. Swirling green and many gentle voices attack Aerith's senses when she "awakens." She was in the Lifestream. She was rather familiar with the place so all of the voices didn't bother her. She let out a sigh as she had been hoping to have had a longer life. As she floated there in the Lifestream trying to locate Zack, a particular and familiar voice reached out to her.

"Oh hello again. What do you want to tell me about today?" Aerith asks.

" _I have a proposition for you and three others like you,_ " the voice says.

"A proposition? What is it? I assume Zack was offered this since I can't seem to find him.." Aerith says.

" _Yes, Zack was made this proposition and he accepted it just moments ago. Well, you and the other three died prematurely. I am giving you a chance at a new life. You'll be in a different world that needs help,"_ the voice explains.

"Will there be any changes to me? And what will I be doing?" Aerith asks.

" _Yes, there will be a few. You'll be going to a school to help fight monsters. As such, you will aged back to 17. There may be a few changes to your body but it uncertain what those changes could be. You'll keep your weapon and any abilities you already have however,"_ the voice says. " _Are these terms acceptable?"_

 _"_ Absolutely. I want to help people and someone has to keep an eye on Zack," Aerith says, giggling towards the end.

" _Very well Aerith Gainsborough, I wish you luck in your new life,"_ the voice says, pleased. A bright and blinding light envelopes Aerith and once more, everything fades to black as she is sent to this new world.

Upon awakening, this time alive, Aerith gasps at the sight above her. It was absolutely beautiful and so different than the slums of Midgar. She slowly sits up and looks around at her surroundings. There were trees with emerald green leaves and soft grass all around her. She takes a moment to breathe in the fresh, MAKO-less air around her and enjoys the moment. However, she know she couldn't stay there forever and she stands up. A metallic shine catches her eyes, and she looks over to see a stave. She carefully picks it up and examines it. It was light and very balanced. Near the top, there was a pointed end and two golden fairy wing-like protrusions on the side. In the center of the protrusions was a red stone. After looking the stave over, the half-Cetra starts her walk through the forest in attempts to find civilization and hopefully Zack. Being alone in a strange place that is known to be riddled with monsters had Aerith a little worried. She looks around, staying on her guard as she walks. Aerith freezes hearing a howl and stares with a wolf-like beast come through the bushes. She notices that the beast stood on its hind legs and was light-eating black. Upon its face was a white bone mask with red lines coursing through it. Snapping out of it, Aerith put her left foot behind her to widen her stance, similar to how she had seen Zack stand. With both hands gripping the stave near the middle, she points the stave at the beast. Oh how she really needed to get Zack to train her better with weapons! She watches as the beast charged her. When the beast was in range and had jumped, she jabbed the stave forward and up, lunging a bit in hops of landing the blow. Her green eyes widen in surprise as she managed to not only land the hit but also pierced the beast through where the heart would be, if this monster had a heart. As horror and pride flash across her eyes, Aerith watches as the monster disintegrates. Shaking herself out of it, Aerith continued on her way, her pace quickening, hoping to find Zack soon and fast. Eventually she comes across a clearing and looks around, attempting to figure out which way to go. However, a large roar interrupts her thoughts as another monster steps into the clearing. Aerith pales a bit at seeing the very large, light-eating black bear monster step out. Like the wolf monster she fought previously, this bear had the white and red bone mask. This bear also had bone plating on its arms and some bone protrusions sticking out.

"Aerith!" a familiar voice calls out. Looking over, Aerith was relieved to see Zack running over to her. However, she noticed that her boyfriend now had some.. furry attachments to him and assumed this was one of the possible changes that could have happened.

"Oh Zack, thank goodness you're here too!" Aerith says. "But I think we have a bit of a problem..."

"Haha! Have no fear! I'm here too, yo!" "Zack! Aerith!" two voices rang out. Aerith and Zack were quite shocked to see who joined them.


	3. Rosewood Trailer

Reno was walking around Sector 8 with his fellow Turk Rude. He was complaining about how he was stuck on patrol duty even though he was second-in-command of the Turks. Of course Rude just ignores him as the two continue their patrol, looking for any Genesis copies and now Angeal copies that may have made their way into Sector 8. The redheaded Turk twirls his Electro-Mag Rod in his hand as he walks around, deciding to just shoot the shit with Rude in attempts to get his companion's attention. Hearing a faint flutter of a wing and then a slightly crazy chuckle, Reno whips around and spots Sephiroth. He notices that there was an insane look in the 1st Class SOLDIER's eyes and he knew something bad was going to happen. Flicking the rod completely out, Reno looks at Rude.

"RUDE! GET OUT OF HERE AND GET TSENG AND THE OTHERS! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF THE BEST I CAN!" Reno shouts. He turns the amperage up to 10 milliamps (mA).

"But you'll-" Rude starts.

"THAT'S AN ORDER RUDE! GO!" Reno commands charging towards Sephiroth to engage him in battle. Reno knew he had a higher chance of loosing the battle but he had to give Rude and the others as much as he could afford to give them. The Turk ducks Masamune and lashes out with the EMR, hitting Sephiroth's arm with it. He dodges to the side to avoid an overhead cleave and darts forward to whack Sephiroth on the back, delivering a powerful shock that caused the one-winged angel to temporarily be paralyzed. Reno takes his chance and whacks Sephiroth over the head with the EMR, knocking the crazed SOLDIER out. He looks around wondering where the hell the reinforcements were. It's not like Sephiroth is going to stay knocked out for very long! Even though Reno knew it would be better to kill Sephiroth, he didn't have the order or permission yet. Besides, there was still a chance to bring Sephiroth back to the light... Right?

"You know... Instead of trying to just incapacitate me, you should have set that silly stun rod of yours to kill," came Sephiroth's voice, snapping Reno out of his thoughts.

"Don't permission to kill you, yo. Also we could still bring you back," Reno says.

"What a waste of time and a perfectly good fighter," Sephiroth smirks as he stands up, wielding Masamune. The silver-haired man then rushes Reno, faster than the Turk could have reacted to and impaled the redhead. Reno drops his EMR and after Masamune was pulled out of him, the now dead Turk crumples to the ground and his vision turns black.

Blue eyes crack open and see swirling green all around. The realization dawns on Reno that he is actually dead and that the fight against Sephiroth WASN'T a bad dream. He groans and just floats there. A voice calls out to the Turk.

"Oh great, now I'm hearing things. How wonderful," Reno groans out.

" _You are not hearing anything, I assure you that Reno Sinclair. I am the voice of the Lifestream. I have a proposition for you,"_ the voice says.

"A proposition? I'm all ears, yo," Reno says, suddenly intrigued.

" _Very well. You and three others had died prematurely and I am offering you another chance at life. The other three have already accepted this proposition,"_ the voice says.

"Who are they? And what is this chance at life?" Reno asks.

" _You'll find out soon enough. You know these three. This new chance will send you to a new world. You will be sent to a school that trains students to fight monsters. If you choose to accept this, you will be aged back to 17. You will have all of the same abilities you already have but you might have some changes to you,"_ the voice explains.

"Aw fuck it. Just send me there, yo," Reno says. He honestly just wanted to get a chance to live again. Hell, more fighting? Why not?

" _Very well. Good luck Reno Sinclair,_ " the voice says. A bright and blinding light envelopes Reno and his vision once more fades to black.

When Reno comes too again, instead of seeing just swirling green, he sees emerald green tree tops and blue skies peaking through. It was a nice change from the city. He sits up and better takes in his surroundings. Down to his left he spots his EMR and smiles. He picks up and gets up, deciding it was time to find this school the voice had told him to go to. He whistles as he wanders the forest, keeping an eye out for these possible monsters. The Turk stops upon hearing a hiss and he gets into a ready stance, flicking the rod out and setting the amperage to 1A, or kill mode. After a few moments of just hissing and slithering, a black serpentine head and a white serpentine head dart out at Reno, attempting to wrap around the Turk.

"Whoa! What the shit?! A two headed fuckin' snake?" Reno says, rolling out of the way. He scowls lightly before going to the white head of the two-headed serpent. He waits for the mouth to open before shoving the EMR into the inside part of the cheek, delivering a lethal shock to the snake. Reno quickly pulls the EMR out of the snake's mouth as it begins to convulse violently and disintegrates. He then turns the rod out so he didn't accidentally electrocute himself. That would have been sad, getting a new life only to electrocute himself to death. Shaking his head, the Turk continues on his way through the forest, now even more on his guard. As he wandered the forest, Reno wondered who the other three were. Hearing a loud roar, the redhead immediately starts running, hoping that who ever pissed off the monster would be alright until he got there. Upon entering a clearing he sees the massive bear and looks over spotting Zack and Aerith.

"Haha! Have no fear! I'm here too, yo!" he calls out, hearing another voice shout out Zack's and Aerith's name.


	4. Canary Trailer

Cloud was riding his bike to Aerith's church down in the Sector 5 Slums. His friend Zack had introduced him to Aerith shortly after the two started dating. He had the day off and wanted to stop by and say hi to Aerith and see how Zack was doing. Upon arrival at the church, Cloud parks the bike and kills the engine. He hops off and walks towards the church doors and pushes them open. Just as he was about to greet Zack and Aerith, his voice gets caught in his throat as he watches Sephiroth pull his famed sword out both of his friends. While in complete shock and rage, he doesn't notice at first that he pulls out the standard ShinRa sword and that he charges at Sephiroth. He manages to land one hit in before he's backhanded by the 1st Class SOLDIER. He snaps out of his shock due to the force of his back hitting a column. Cloud was still pissed and he gets up, picking his sword back up. His anger only furthers when seeing the smirk on Sephiroth's face before going back into a fight with Sephiroth, slashing and parrying when possible. However, after a few moments of Sephiroth toying with him, the same fate that happened to Zack and Aerith happens to him. Cloud's sword had been knocked out of his hand and then he was impaled on the legendary Masamune. After Sephiroth removes the sword, Cloud falls to the ground and his vision fades to black.

Cloud "awakens" in a swirl of green. He looks around, wondering where he was for a moment before realizing that this was the Lifestream. His momentary confusion is replaced with anger as he realizes that Sephiroth killing him, Aerith and Zack was not a nightmare. However, he whips around hearing a voice speak out to him.

"Who's there?!" Cloud shouts, looking around.

" _Relax Cloud Strife. No one can harm you here and you can't harm anyone. I am simply the voice of the Lifestream. I have a proposition to make to you,"_ the voice says.

"What do you want?" Cloud asks, arms crossed as he floats.

" _I am offering you a chance at a new life. It would not be in this world however. I am offering you this as you and three others were killed prematurely,"_ the voice says.

"Who are the others and what happens if I accept this?" Cloud asks.

" _Well you already know two of the people. The third you will find out soon enough. If you go to this new world, you will go to this school that trains its students to kill monsters. As so, you would be aged to 17. You will keep all of the abilities you already have and there is a possibility of other changes happening to you,"_ the voice tells Cloud. Said blonde thinks about it.

"...Fine. I accept this," Cloud says after a few moments.

" _Very well. I wish you luck Cloud Strife in this new land,"_ the voice says. A blinding and bright light engulfs Cloud and the blonde's vision goes black once more as he is teleported back to Remnant.

A faint groan escapes Cloud's lips as he wakes up. He blue eyes snap open upon smelling the MAKO-less air and he sits up fast. Taking a good look at his surroundings, Cloud realizes that this was the new world the voice had told him about. It reminded him a little bit of his hometown Nibelheim. Sighing and running a hand through his blonde spikes, Cloud stands up. He goes to reach for his sword and panics when seeing that his sword wasn't with him. He looks around again, going slower so that he wouldn't miss anything. A glint in the sunlight alerts him to a sword's presence. He picks up and examines it. The blade was gold and had a purple center. The guard was black with two prongs on both side. Just as he finished inspecting the new sword, he hears a really loud and angry squeal before a whirling white pinwheel comes flying at him. Quickly dodging to the side, the pinwheel zooms past him and into a rock. The creature revealed was a boar-like monster with lots of bone plating on its back and two very large tusks sticking out of its face. Jumping right into action, Cloud charges the dazed beast and decides to knock onto its back, having a feeling that the bone plates would be hard to cut through. After bulldozing the creature, the Chocobo, as Zack would call him, stabs the sword through where the heart would most likely be. To Cloud's surprise, the monster disintegrates. Huffing, Cloud puts the sword on his pack and starts his trek through the forest. After what seemed like an eternity, a large roar rips through the forest and Cloud starts sprinting towards the roar, hoping that neither Aerith nor Zack was at the source of the roaring. Bursting into a clearing, he spots the large bear-like monster and spots Zack and Aerith.

"Zack! Aerith!" Cloud shouts, drawing his weapon. At the same time, he heard the distinctive voice of the redheaded Turk call out that he was there to help as well.


	5. So, You Want to be Hunters?

"Well! This is quite the surprise! However, let's get rid of this bear thing, shall we?" Zack says, surprised and a little sad to see both Reno and Cloud there. The other three nod in agreement and they split in four directions to encircle the large bear monster. Zack kept the beast focused on him so that it wouldn't turn to Aerith, as he knew that he would have to help Aerith get up to speed on her fighting skills. Reno was to his left, Cloud to his right, covering the beast's flanks. Zack knew that Aerith was placed behind the beast. Letting out a loud woop to startle the bear, Zack takes a few running steps before launching himself into the air and then swinging the blade down. The Ursa Major brought its plated arms to block the incoming attack, only to roar in pain and rage as a heavy slice and high shock hit it on either side. "Aerith! now!" Zack shouts as he pushes off the bone plates. Aerith nods, even though her boyfriend couldn't see it, and she runs forward and jabs the stave forward into the beast's back. The beast let out another roar of pain and this time Zack finished it off with a large slice upwards. The Ursa starts to disintegrate.

"Aw yeah! We did it! Now let's get out of this forest, yo!" Reno says, fist pumping the air.

"Agreed. This place gives me the creeps despite its beauty," Cloud says, putting the sword on his back, Zack doing the same.

"Aw babe! I'm so proud of you! You did it!" Zack says, running to Aerith, stave still in hand, and picking her up in a twirl hug. he then proceeds to pepper Aerith's face in kisses.

"Zaaaacck!" Aerith giggles. She then reaches up and pets behind both of Zack's ears, bring the attention of the furry attachments to Reno and Cloud again.

"Whoa! That felt weird!" Zack says, jumping a bit when Aerith touched his wolf ears. He then sets her down. Reno starts laughing and Cloud chuckles.

"Oh my Lifestream dude! You're a literal dog! Hahahahaha! This is too great!" Reno laughs, throwing his head back.

"How fitting. I'm just glad I'm not part chocobo now," Cloud chuckles.

"Aeeerrriiittthhh Reno and Cloud are making fun of meeeeeee," Zack whined, his wolf ears flattening a bit against his head. Aerith giggled again.

"I think the ears look adorable on you! Along with the tail," Aerith smiles sweetly at Zack. She then turns to Reno and Cloud, one hand on her stave, the other on her hip. "Now boys, I think you should stop laughing at Zack," she says in a motherly tone. Cloud immediately smartens up while Reno has to bit his jacket sleeve to stifle his laughter and recover himself. When Aerith turned back to Zack she noticed him tilting his head this way and that, as if trying to discern where a sound was coming from.

"I think there's an engine coming towards us? It's coming from that direction," Zack says, pointing to his right. After a few moments, Cloud was able to pick up the sound.

"Yeah, I hear it now. I hope it's friendly..." Cloud says. He tensed in case it wasn't a friendly shit. The quartet stood close to each other, ready to defend themselves or run. An odd looking craft descends into the clearing and lands. As it opens up, a man with silver hair, though no older than 40, walks out. In one hand was a coffee mug, the other was an intricate looking cane.

"Do not fear. I mean you no harm. You four may rest easy now. My name is Professor Ozpin and I'm the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. If you four could come with me so we may get you out of this Grimm infested forest, we can discuss things more in depth," the man named Ozpin says. Cloud and Aerith glance at Zack and Reno, letting the more experienced ex-ShinRa employees handle the judgement. Reno and Zack gauge the man, look at each other and both nod. Zack gives Aerith and Cloud a grin and thumbs up. The quartet then approach the craft and follow Ozpin into the ship.

 **~ Some time before but not too far back ~**

"Ozpin! Four life forms have appeared in the Emerald forest from a bizarre green portal!" a stern blonde woman named Glynda says, storming into Ozpin's office. She pulls up the few security cameras that were around the Emerald Forest and projected them from her scroll. Four specific video feeds were pulled up. One had a black wolf faunus with a very large sword. A second one had a sweet looking girl with an elegant stave. A third held a vicious looking redhead who wielded a stun baton of sort while the last one had a blonde man with a different sword than the first but rather elegant.

"How intriguing. I wonder how these four got here," Ozpin says, chin rested on his folded hands as he watches the four new people wander through the Emerald Forest. He was impressed at the feats of these four youngsters.

"You're just going to sit there and watch them?" Glynda half-shouts, exasperated at the headmaster's lack of action.

"Of course not Glynda. This isn't initiation and while they seem very prepared... I want to find out about these people," Ozpin says before standing up. He grabs his mug and cane and starts walking out of his office, Glynda following him, watching the footage of the four on her scroll. As the two hurriedly headed down to the launch bay to get into a bullhead, Glynda noticed that the four had found themselves in a known clearing.

"Well at least we can find them more easily now. However, they're up against an Ursa Major.. and an old one by the looks of it. They also know each other," Glynda reports as she steps onto the bullhead with Ozpin.

"Wonderful. That should make things a bit easier then, wouldn't you say?" Ozpin asks, looking at the deputy headmistress as he takes a sip from his mug.

"I suppose it does," Glynda says. When the bullhead finally arrived and landed, Ozpin motioned for Glynda to stay on board before going stepping out. One thing he instantly noticed was that the three males were instantly ready to attack while the lone female was a bit more hesitant but determined. He walks out casually as to show he was not going to attack.

"Do not fear. I mean you no harm. You four may rest easy now. My name is Professor Ozpin and I'm the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. If you four could come with me so we may get you out of this Grimm infested forest, we can discuss things more in depth," Ozpin says. He waits as the wolf faunus and the redhead seemed to analyze him. He offers a smile and leads them onto the bullhead.

 **~ Present Time ~**

"Who's this, yo?" Reno asked, spotting Glynda.

"I am Glynda Goodwitch, deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy. Now who might you four be?" Glynda says, looking at them sharply.

"Zack Fair! 1st Class SOLDIER! Well, ex-SOLDIER now," Zack says, chuckling softly.

"I'm Aerith Gainsborough. It's a pleasure to meet you," Aerith says sweetly, curtsying.

"Reno Sinclair!" Reno says, not proclaiming his title as he knew they would have to explain later.

"Cloud Strife. Ex-3rd Class SOLDIER," Cloud answers, going back to being the quiet chocobo that he was.

"Well, I'm sure we all have questions for each other, so once we get to my office and we're all comfortable, we share stories?" Ozpin suggests. The four newcomers nod in agreement.

 **~ At Ozpin's Office ~**

Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud look around in amazement at Beacon as they headed up to Ozpin's office. Everything was so much... cleaner than on Gaia. Hell, it was cleaner and somehow more modern than the ShinRa buildings! Zack was doing his best to not go run around and explore, something he was blaming his newly acquired canine side. Aerith giggles at seeing Zack's tail wag slightly side to side in contained excitement. Reno was smirking at his black haired friend while Cloud just opted for a simple shake of his blonde spiked head. They all step into the fancy looking elevator and after a not _too_ awkward silence, the elevator dings and comes to a halt. The doors slide open and Ozpin leads everyone to his office. Glynda used her Semblance to move five chairs into Ozpin's office so everyone could be comfy.

"Whooaaa! How'd you do that?" Zack asks, his MAKO blue eyes wide.

"You'll find out soon enough," Glynda simply says. After setting the chairs down, everyone takes a seat to get comfy.

"So, where are you four from? You're clearly not from Remnant since some vivid green portals spat you out into the Emerald Forest," Ozpin says.

"We're from a world called Gaia. We all had died back on our home world but it was a premature death for all of us so we were given a second chance," Cloud bluntly puts.

"Who gave you a second chance?" Glynda asks.

"The Lifestream. It's what keeps our world alive. Everyone returns to the Lifestream when they die. I was one of the last of my kind that could talk to the Lifestream while alive," Aerith says.

"And before you ask, we might as well explain a tad further how we got here," Zack says before launching into a basic enough story about ShinRa, SOLDIER, MAKO, MATERIA and what had happened to them all. Ozpin and Glynda had various reactions on their faces throughout Zack's tale. When Zack had finished, Ozpin sat back in his seat to digest the information.

"What a very peculiar world you four originate from. However, I ask you don't go flaunting this information around.. One of the four kingdoms here would probably want to experiment on you," Ozpin says. "Now I suppose it's our turn, isn't it?"

"If you'd be so kind sir. Also, before you explain where we are... Why does Zack have cute wolf ears and a a wolf tail?" Aerith says.

"It would appear that the Lifestream had turned him into a faunus. Faunus are humans that have animal traits. He is a wolf faunus. He has stronger senses than an average human being and other such abilities that come from a wolf," Glynda asks.

"Dude, you already have enhanced senses! Now it's even better? Not fair, yo!" Reno huffs, causing Ozpin to chuckle.

"Anyways, you four are on a world called Remnant. There are four kingdoms. Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo and Vale. We are in Vale. There's also the continent of Menagerie that is now an overpopulated home to the faunus. Sadly, faunus are not treated as equal everywhere, so I apologize if you are mistreated here Mr. Fair. Here on Remnant, as you all saw, we are constantly plagued by the creatures of Grimm," Ozpin starts.

"So that's what those things were..." Cloud mutters.

"Precisely. The Grimm are attracted to negative emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, etc. To help combat the Grimm and to keep the four kingdoms at peace, people far and wide train to be Hunters and Huntresses. These people train to fight against these monsters using Dust and Aura. Dust is similar to that of your MATERIA but just elemental based. Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It has passive abilities such as minor healing and a shield. Some people even manifest something called a Semblance, which is unique to each individual but can be similar," Ozpin continues.

"Is that how you were able to move all of these chairs?" Aerith asks.

"Yes. My Semblance is telekinesis," Glynda answers.

"So if this world trains these Hunters and Huntresses, and you said this was an academy.. Does that mean this is a combat a school then?" Cloud asks.

"That is correct," Ozpin nods.

"Then sign us up!" Zack and Reno say at the same time.

"So, you four want to be Hunters even after facing off those Grimm?" Ozpin asks. The four nod in affirmation.

"Well, the numbers would work out, assuming everyone passes initiation," Glynda says.

"Wonderful. Then we should get to unlocking your Auras," Ozpin smiles, standing up and looking at the four. He had a feeling that this year was about to get even MORE interesting.


	6. Auras and First Day

Ozpin leaves his mug on the desk before walking over to the four soon to be students of Beacon. He motions for the four of them to stand and looks at each off them. Glynda walks over to help Ozpin with the unlocking of Auras as even though Ozpin had a large pool of Aura, unlocking four Auras would take a lot out of anyone. She stands in front of Aerith while Ozpin stands in front of Zack. The headmaster and his deputy put their right hands over where their targets' hearts were and their left hands on the right cheek.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee,"_ Ozpin and Glynda chant at the same time. Ozpin glows a dark green while Glynda glows purple. This, in turn, causes Zack to glow a zaffre blue and Aerith an amaranth pink. When the glowing died down, Glynda's normally sharp posture slackened a bit whereas Ozpin didn't seem to be affected.

"That's was so cool, yo! What did it feel like?" Reno asks curiously and excitedly.

"Warm and pleasant and very soothing," Aerith answers with a smile.

"Yeah! Kinda like the feeling of curaga!" Zack beams. "I'm honestly surprised that I have Aura considering I was infused with MAKO."

"That is curious. I was not sure if it would actually work on you and Cloud. However, I would imagine that the healing properties of MAKO would be even more efficient, and you get a plus by having the passive defense," Ozpin says. "Do you want me to do the other two? Or do you feel up to helping me again?"

"I can handle one more. Just give me a moment," Glynda says, Ozpin nodding. After a few minutes, Glynda uprights herself and goes over to Cloud, Ozpin going over to Reno. The two perform the chant again and along with the dark green and purple glow, a canary yellow glow appeared around Cloud and a rosewood red appeared around Reno. The glows disappear and Glynda plops into a chair, somehow maintaining her elegance. Ozpin's stance also seemed to slacken a bit.

"You four will stay in a visitor suite for now until initiation which is in about a week. I suggest you take this time to control your Aura and any semblance you might have as well as read up on the world of Remnant," Ozpin says as he walks back over to grab his mug. He picks it up and takes a few moments to brew another batch of hot chocolate to put into his mug. Once the headmaster has his mug filled, he picks up his cane and motions for them to follow him

"I'll meet you four later with your scrolls as they are an integral part of life here on Remnant," Glynda calls from her seat.

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch!" Aerith says before following Ozpin out of his office and back onto the elevator to be brought to the room she and the boys would be staying in for the time being.

 **~ One Week Later ~**

Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud were chilling on Beacon's grounds. They watch as students start to pour out from the large bullheads and start to meet up with their friends and start heading off to find their way to the auditorium. Zack spots a black and red haired girl with a red cape who appeared to be younger than everyone else look slightly dazed and accidentally bump into some white haired chick's luggage. He winces in pain at hearing the high pitched shriek and yelling that came from their direction. He stands up.

"I need to stop that yelling before I get a headache and possibly save the girl in the red cape from something embarrassing," Zack says before trotting over, Reno following right behind him. Aerith and Cloud decide to follow as well, not wanting Zack or Reno to accidentally do something stupid.

"This is Dust! You know, fire? Ice? Lightning? Earth?!" the white haired chick shouted at the girl in red cape while shaking a bottle of red Dust. Reno sees this and instantly snags the bottle while Zack moved the red and black themed girl out of the Dust cloud that had appeared. "Hey! Give that back! That's mine!"

"I'll give it back when you stop acting like an idiot, yo. I would think someone as knowledgeable about Dust as you are would know not to wave a bottle so haphazardly," Reno snarks.

"Excuse me?! How dare you speak to me like that! Do you know who I am?!" White shrieked in rage. Zack winces.

"Ow.. Quit screeching would ya?" Zack huffed, earning a glare from the white haired chick.

"I'm afraid not, princess," Reno says, pressing the cork back into the bottle since it had gotten loose.

"It's heiress, actually," a black haired girl says, appearing. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. The largest Dust company in all of Remnant, which is also known for its controversial faunus labor laws." Zack noticed the bow twitching and smelled a feline smell and had a sinking suspicion the girl was a cat faunus.

"I see.. You're a pretty little girl who's probably using Daddy's credit card to pay for everything and has a thing against faunus as well I presume? Not cool yo," Reno says, now lightly tossing the fire dust jar. Weiss just scowls at Reno before snatching the bottle out of his hand and marching off with the rest of her belongings and the man who was pushing the luggage cart. The black haired chick had also disappeared.

"Um... Thank you..." the red and black themed girl said quietly, blushing heavily.

"You're welcome! Saw the trouble and wanted to save ya from anything brutal happening! I'm Zack Fair by the way!" Zack says, grinning widely at the girl.

"I'm Ruby Rose," the girl now known as Ruby says shyly.

"Reno Sinclair, yo," Reno says, hands on the back of his head.

"Cloud Strife," Cloud says quietly from his farther away position.

"And I'm Aerith Gainsborough. Would you like to head to the auditorium with us Ruby?" Aerith offers with a warm and welcoming smile.

"Really? That would be great!" Ruby says, happy that her saviors wanted her to stick around.

"Yeah! Follow us!" Zack says happily, turning and starts walking.

"Oh my Oum.. Is that.. Is that a buster sword? That's so COOL!" Ruby says, appearing next to Zack, her silver eyes sparkling. Zack grins.

"You bet! If you think my sword is cool, you should see theirs!" Zack says, pulling the buster sword off his magnetic holster.

"Oooo can I? Pleeassse?" Ruby says, looking at the other three with pleading eyes. Cloud actually chuckles and he unsheathes his pretty broadsword. Aerith carefully removes the collapsed form of her stave from her hip and extends it completely.. Reno reaches into his pocket and then flicks out his EMR to full length. Ruby inspects each weapon like a child inspecting all of their presents on their birthday. She tilts her head at Reno's weapon. "What's that?"

"It's an Electro-Mag Rod. It's off at the moment but I can set it to stun or kill. Don't use the latter very often though, yo," Reno says. Ruby nods.

"Well, I'll show you guys Crescent Rose!" Ruby says. She steps back and pulls out a red rectangle before expanding it into a scythe. "It's also a high caliber sniper rifle! I designed and made it after my uncle's own scythe."

"You made that?" Cloud asks, in shock.

"Yup! All students at Signal make their own weapons! Did you guys not make your own weapons?" Ruby asks, her head tilting. In a way, Ruby reminded Reno of Zack but more innocent and obviously female.

"No. They also don't transform like yours. I guess they're more like an heirloom of sorts?" Aerith says, collapsing her stave and hooking it back onto her belt.

"Ooooh... That's still really cool though!" Ruby says, twirling her scythe back into the storage form and placing it on her back.

"Well, let's get going, don't want to miss Professor Ozpin's speech do we?" Cloud says.

"Oh right! Which way is the auditorium? I didn't get to take a tour as I only just recently got in.. I'm only 15," Ruby says, blushing towards the end.

"That's alright! And it's this way!" Zack says, leading the way, his tail wagging lightly side to side.

"15? Impressive," Reno says with a smirk, causing Ruby to blush even more. Reno had a feeling it would be fun to mess with Ruby. The quintet make their way to the auditorium. The four friends chatted with their newest companion and friend Ruby, hoping to make the younger girl feel more comfortable at Beacon.

"Hey sis! Over here! Bring your friends too!" a rather busty blonde calls out to Ruby. She was surprised to see Ruby talking to four people and wanted to know who her baby sister befriended.

"Oh that's my sister Yang!" Ruby says to her four new friends, at least she hoped they were her friends, before leading them over to Yang.

"Awe, my baby sister made new friends already! So who we got here?" Yang says, hugging Ruby tightly, her lilac eyes looking over each member. She was also impressed that her sister made friends with three guys already. Her eyes stopped on the redhead and she smirks lightly.

"These are Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough and Reno Sinclair," Ruby says, pointing to each person in turn.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Yang Xiao Long. And before you ask, we're half sisters," Yang says, noticing the question that was about to form on Zack's lips.

"You as well Yang. Your sister is very adorable. We're glad to be her friends and hopefully we can make friends with you as well," Aerith says, sweetly. Zack instantly hugs her.

"Baaaabe! You're so cuuuutteee!" Zack says, nuzzling Aerith's cheek. Aerith just smiles happily and pats Zack on the head.

"Do they do that a lot?" Ruby asks. She had a smile as she found it adorable and subconsciously wishes that she gets someone like that.

"Yeah.. You get used to it fast," Cloud says. However, that's where the conversation had to end as Ozpin stepped out onto the stage, Glynda following right behind him. The auditorium goes silent as they all wait for Ozpin to say his speech.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step," Ozpin says before walking off stage nonchalantly.

"Huh, that was cryptic," Cloud mutters.

"There's a hidden meaning I bet," Reno says, his Turk trained mind already attempting to decipher what exactly Ozpin was saying.

"Tonight, first years will gather in the ball room. Tomorrow morning is your initiation where you will be assigned teams," Glynda announces before walking off as well.

 **~ That night ~**

Zack, Aerith, Cloud and Reno had found a nice little corner to claim for the night when a shy Ruby towed by an overenthusiastic Yang. Yang plops her sleeping bag down and then plops down on top of said sleeping bag. Ruby sets hers down normally and sits on it, waving shyly at her new friends.

"Hope you don't mind us joining you," Ruby says.

"Not at all! Besides, you're our friends," Aerith says.

"Yeah Rubes! Besides, it's like a big slumber party!" Yang cheers.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though..." Ruby trails off.

"I know I do!" Yang says with a wide smirk before sending a flirty but playful one at Cloud and Reno. Cloud just looks away politely, holding back a faint blush. Reno on the other hand just sends one right back at Yang. Zack snickers at Cloud's reaction while Aerith just shakes her head. Ruby didn't know why but she felt bothered that Reno was flirting with Yang. Or was it that Yang was flirting with Reno? She didn't know but she didn't like it. Shaking her head, she pulls out her notebook to start writing letters to her friends back at Signal.

"What are you doing Ruby?" Aerith asks, taking her brunette braid down and letting her hair flow loosely.

"Letters back to my friends at Signal since I didn't get to bring any of them with me," Ruby answers.

"Awww that's adorable!" Zack says grinning.

"I know! Rubes is the cutest baby sister ever!" Yang says. She laughs after a pillow hits her square in the face.

"Nice shot shortstack," Reno smirks, his hair also out of its ponytail. Ruby looked over and blushed.

"I'm not that short..." Ruby says, forcing herself to look away from Reno and his celestine eyes. Wait, why was she so focused on his eyes?! She shakes her head to rid these weird thoughts from her head.

"Well, we should probably get to sleep since I assume we will be having an early start and most people have settled down," Cloud comments.

"Right, night guys!" Zack says, before turning off the little lantern that he had acquired earlier. Zack and Aerith cuddle up as usual; Cloud curls into a slight ball; Reno sprawls a bit; Yang sleeps on her side but sprawls her legs while Ruby pulls on her sleeping mask and then lays down on her side in a similar manner as Cloud.


	7. Initiation and Teams

**~ The next morning ~**

After waking up, changing and eating breakfast, Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud go to their lockers they were assigned the previous day. Cloud finds his locker and he punches in the code to get his sword, which he decided to call Ultima Weapon, and his armor. His locker was oddly farther away from his friends. As he pulls on his armor and holster, he overhears some voices. He could tell that it was two females and recognized one to be Weiss. Grabbing his sword to put on his magnetic holster, he hears a third voice, this time male. Deciding to investigate this situation, he turns to face the source of the voices. His blue eyes widen upon seeing a beautiful woman with bright red hair and shocking green eyes and he felt his face heat up. Snapping out of it, Cloud goes over in attempts to make the situation less awkward for the pretty redhead.

"Ya know, if you keep yammering away, not only will you make yourself late for initiation but you'll make her late as well. If I'm not mistaken, we're supposed to gather on Beacon Cliff," Cloud says.

"Oh right! We don't want to be late! Especially if you want a spot on Team Jaune!" the other blonde, now known as Jaune, says, winking at Weiss.

"Yeah.. Sure," Weiss says, obviously not appreciating Jaune's flirts. She glares at Cloud, recognizing him to be one of the people with the two that humiliated her yesterday. Turning on her heel, Weiss stalks out of the locker room out to where initiation would be taking place, Jaune following him, talking to Weiss, unsuccessfully. The redheaded girl turns to Cloud and gives him a grateful smile.

"Thank you for that... I'm Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha says.

"Cloud Strife. Nice to meet you. I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable you looked," Cloud says.

"Yeah, but as you said, we should probably get going.." Pyrrha trails off.

"Oh! Yeah! You're right, let's go," Cloud says, blushing, rubbing the back of his blonde spiky head. He then heads off, walking in a surprisingly not to awkward silence with Pyrrha. Reno, Aerith and Zack had watched and followed the pair. Reno was smirking.

"Looks like the little Chocobo has a crush on that redheaded girl," Reno comments.

"Oh yeah totally. Wanna tease him about it?" Zack asks, grinning.

"Of course, yo!" Reno replies, matching Zack's grin. Aerith shakes her head.

"Don't pester him too much you two!" Aerith scolds lightly as she walks with them. Upon arrival at the initiation sight, there were a bunch of suspicious looking plates on top of the hill... in front of the Emerald Forest. The trio looks at each other before taking the last three open plates since they were the last ones there. And just in time too as Ozpin seemed to be starting to explain everything.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin says.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today," Glynda says.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ozpin explains before taking a sip of hot chocolate from his mug. Aerith, Zack, Cloud and Reno looked confused as to how they would be getting into the forest but that was instantly answered for them as students started to get launched into the forest.

"We're being launched?" Aerith squeaked in surprised.

"I suppose so! This looks like fun!" Zack says. He was the first of the four to get launched, letting out a loud whoop of enjoyment. Aerith let out another squeak of surprise as she was launched next. Cloud was next and then Reno. Reno had just barely heard the rather nervous blonde asking questions about the landing strategy but of course he was launched before he heard Ozpin's answer.

 **~ In The Emerald Forest ~**

Zack grins as he flies through the air. It was a wonderful sensation to feel the wind blowing through his hair and ruffling his furry ears. However, he shakes himself from his thoughts and focused about landing. Fortunately, he had small and easily breakable branches to bust through to slow him down. Once at a safer speed, Zack reaches out and grabs onto a tree branch, swinging himself around it using his momentum and then somersaults to the ground. He rolls out of it and then looks around. His black wolf ears twitch having picked up a small sound. He looks up and he spots a blur of pink shoot overhead and follows it. He knew it was Aerith and was glad that they had Aura as he runs in the same direction, his MAKO enhanced speed allowing him to easily keep Aerith in sight.

Aerith, to say the very least, did not like this method of deployment. While still above the tree tops, she manages to pull out her stave and extend it. She does her best to slice the tree branches out of her way once she breaks the treeline but didn't have to worry about that took much as she too only had to deal with thinner branches. Upon seeing a tree trunk approaching her, Aerith jabs her stave forward and into the tree. She grunts lightly when her body bounced off the tree due to her momentum coming to a sudden halt. She thanks the Lifestream for having Aura as her Aura took the brunt of the force. She looks around to try to see if she would be alright to fall.

"Aerith! Smart thinking with impaling the tree! You alright?" Zack calls up, sliding to a stop at the tree that he had seen his girlfriend heading towards.

"Oh Zack! Perfect timing! I'm just a bit banged up but my Aura took the brunt of it. Got an idea to get me down safely?" Aerith says, looking down and locking eyes with Zack.

"Yeah! I'll catch you! Just.. don't impale me with the stave," Zack says.

"Ok!" Aerith says. She pulls out the stave and eeps as she starts to fall. Thinking quickly, she threw her stave towards the ground away from Zack. She lands with an oof in Zack's arms, feeling him bend his knees to absorb the force from the impact. Zack sets her down and Aerith runs over to grab her stave.

"Shall we get going then my dear?" Zack asks with a cheeky smile and offering his right arm.

"Why of course!" Aerith giggles, linking her left arm with Zack, the stave in her right hand. The happy couple start heading to the north as instructed by Ozpin, taking out a few Grimm here and there. One of the Grimm they came across was an Alpha Beowolf. When they fought against the Alpha Beowolf, Zack decided to see if he had a Semblance. He grins when seeing that his Semblance was his Digital Mind Wave. However, unlike on Gaia, he didn't have the same profiles and his mood didn't seem to affect it. The only people that he kept from Gaia were Aerith and Cloud. In addition to having Aerith's and Cloud's profiles, he now had Reno's, Ruby's and Yang's profiles. The DMW gave him three of Yang's profiles. The phrase "Hit 'Em Where It Hurts!" flashed across his mind and he instinctively let the claws swipe across his chest, depleting some Aura and he uppercuts the Alpha in the jaw, taking it's head off.

"Holy shit! I was not expecting that!" Zack says, looking where the Alpha's body was.

"How did you do that?" Aertih asks, green eyes widening in surprise.

"My Semblance I guess? It's like my Digital Mind Wave limit break from Gaia. Whenever I make a connection with someone, they can 'lend' me some power, if you will. Currently I have yours, Cloud's, Reno's, Ruby's and Yang's portraits. I got Yang's and I guess it's based off her Semblance?" Zack explains.

"Huh, interesting.." Aerith says. She shrugs and the couple continues on their way to the temple.

Cloud definitely thought that Ozpin was insane for LAUNCHING students into the Emerald Forest. Shaking his blonde haired head, Cloud immediately tries to get himself closer to the ground. He breaks through the smaller branches and grabs onto the first larger branch he comes across of and lets his momentum carry him around the branch and manages to somersaults off the branch. However, when he landed, Cloud didn't stick the landing and got a face full of grass and dirt. After spitting out the grass and dirt, Cloud pushes himself off the ground and heads his way north. Fortunately for him, having been a country boy, navigating the Emerald Forest wasn't too hard for him.

Reno lets out a laugh as he flies through the air and pulls out his EMR, setting it to stun as to not accidentally kill himself. With the EMR crackling to life, he lashes out to break the branches, only to collide with a branch. He lets out a groan as he lays draped on the branch. After a moments, he turns the EMR off and hooks it back onto his pants loop. the redheaded ex-Turk carefully climbs out of the branches. Once on the last branch, Reno drops down and accidentally lands on Cloud bringing them both to the ground, somehow having missed the blonde swordsman.

"Sorry Chocobo!" Reno says, rolling off of Cloud and then helping Cloud up.

"You would think an ex-Turk like you would be more observant of his surroundings," Cloud says, locking eyes with Reno to confirm their partnership.

"Oops? Anyways country boy! Lead us out of this forest, yo!" Reno says, grinning at the blonde. Cloud rolls his eyes before leading the way. They come across a cave and cautiously enter it to see if perhaps it was a shortcut. Deeper in the cave, Cloud freezes as his foot stepped on something... sticky.

"Uh Reno... Let's head out of here..." Cloud says.

"Why?"

"I think I just stepped on a giant spider web..."

"...Then let's go!" Reno says, turning on his heel and running out of the caver, Cloud following, and a giant Arachne following behind him.

"GIANT SPIDERS?! ARE YOU FUCKIN KIDDING ME?!" Cloud shouts when he spots the Arachne Grimm following them out of the cave.

"LET'S JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE YO!" Reno shouts back. The two start sprinting, Cloud pulling a tad ahead due to the extra MAKO enhancement he had. Reno was able to stay closer to Cloud than to the Arachne due to the Aura, which he was grateful for. Both were breathing heavily when they reached the temple, almost bulldozing Aerith and Zack down in the process. The two skid to a stop to catch their breath.

"What's got you two panting?" Zack asks, arching a black eyebrow.

"Giant.. Fucking.. Spider.. Grimm..." Reno pants out.

"Oh no... Let's just get a relic and get out of here," Aerith says. She decides to try out her Semblance, wondering if it would be anything like her Great Gospel limit break. Calling upon her Aura and focusing on Reno and Cloud, a healing rain showers the two and the two are returned back to their original state.

"Whoa, thanks Aerith!" Reno says, no longer feeling tired and he stands up. "Is your Aura alright?"

"Yup! Only a little bit of my Aura was depleted from using it which is relief!" Aerith says, opening her scroll and displaying her Aura. After confirming that Aerith wasn't lying, which none of the three males thought she was, the quartet hurriedly head over to the relics, having spotted Ruby, Yang, Weiss, the black haired girl, Jaune, Pyrrha, an energetic girl and a calmer male with a pink streak in his hair. Zack and Reno both grab the black rook pieces. From the treeline, the giant Archne and a Death Stalker come bursting forth. Overhead was a Nevermore.

"Uhm guys, we got a big problem on our hands!" Jaune says.

"Well, let's get rid of them!" Yang says, her bracelets shifting into their gauntlet form.

"Aerith, Reno, Cloud and I got the Arachne since Reno and Cloud pissed it off!" Zack says cheerfully before drawing his buster sword.

"Anyone got a plan?" Reno asks, analyzing the Arachne. The Arachne had bone plating on its head and midsection where as the butt was wide open. There was also bone plating on the major leg joints. The face had some nasty pincers. "Something tells me it might have a venomous bite.."

"I got a plan! Cloud and I will attack the four front legs so it focuses on us. You and Aerith take the back four legs. Sever them enough so it has limited mobility. Once the legs are disabled, I boost Cloud up into the air so he gets on top and Reno boosts Aerith on top. Cloud, try using your Semblance to break the bone plating and possibly get through to the actual body. Aerith, stab its butt with your stave," Zack says.

"Impressive.. You have a plan... I would use kill mode but something tells me that this fucker can handle it.." Reno says.

"Professor Ozpin did say the larger and more heavily plated a Grimm, the more ancient they are and more resistant. Also, don't use kill mode as you might accidentally hit one of us," Aerith says.

"Right..." Reno says.

"Let's go!" Zack says, charging the Arachne to the left, Aerith following on his outside. Cloud charges to the right, Reno on his outside. Zack and Cloud launch themselves at the front legs, avoiding the pincers and being stomped on. Aerith and Reno get to the back legs to launch their attack.

"Aerith! I'll stun the legs, you cut them off!" Reno calls out to the brunette.

"Good idea!" Aerith says, nimbly heading over to Reno. Reno whacks each leg three times and Aerith swings her stave in a horizontal manner, just like Zack taught her, and severs the legs. Zack and Cloud take turns chopping a leg and blocking the pincers. Lots of angry screeching comes from the Arachne as parts of its legs get severed off. Upon seeing that all eight legs being severed, Zack calls out for phase two. Zack quickly holsters the buster sword and Cloud runs at him. Zack throws Cloud up into the air, the same time that Reno throws Aerith into the air. Aerith points her stave down and drives it into the butt, the stave almost all the way through the butt.

"Cloud! Now!" Aerith shouts. Cloud nods and he draws upon Aura to uses his Semblance. It was just like his most powerful limit break Omnislash. After 15 quick and powerful slashes, not only does the bone plating shatter, the 15th strike slices through the body, killing the Arachne. Cloud and Aerith land on the ground as the body of the Grimm disintegrates.

 **~ With Ozpin and Glynda ~**

"Ozpin! Mr. Fair and Mr. Strife have dangerous semblances! We don't know how dangerous Mr. Sinclair's is! They cannot use their Semblances in tournaments or combat classes!" Glynda says after having watched the four take down the Arachne.

"I will be asking Mr. Strife to not use his. However, I will have to ask Mr. Fair to test out his other.. possibilities. It would seem his Yang connection would be unwise in a duel. And with Mr. Sinclair, I am going to ask that he practice his on test dummies first," Ozpin says.

"I suppose that will do," Glynda huffs lightly.

 **~ Team Formation Ceremony ~**

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. You collected the white rook pieces. You will be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc," Ozpin says.

"What? Me?" Jaune says surprised. Ozpin merely smiles.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. You collected the white knight pieces. You will be known as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose," Ozpin says.

"Good job little sis! You made Team Leader!" Yang says, hugging Ruby tightly. Weiss just scoffs.

"And finally, Zack Fair, Aerith Gainsborough, Reno Sinclair and Cloud Strife. You collected the black rook pieces. You will be known as Team ZARC, led by Zack Fair. Congratulations everyone," Ozpin says, finishing.

"Good job yo! That's our ex-1st Class SOLDIER!" Reno says, throwing his arm around Zack's shoulders.

"Oh I'm so proud of you Zack!" Aerith says, clapping happily. However, Team ZARC was not able to continue their happy celebration as Ozpin walked over.

"I'd like for you four to come with me to my office as I have some... things to discuss with you four," Ozpin says.

"Yessir!" Zack says. Ruby bounces to congratulate her fellow Team Leader but faltered when seeing Ozpin leaving.

"Don't worry Ruby, we can talk later, alright?" Aerith says softly.

"Okay... See ya later," Ruby says, nodding. She watches as Team ZARC follows Ozping off.


	8. A Talk with Oz, Plus a Gun

The members of Team ZARC follow Ozpin up to his office. ZARC wondered if they did anything wrong but judging by the rather calm look upon the headmaster's face, they figured they probably weren't in trouble. Soon enough, the rhythmic clicks of the gears completely soothes the team as they enter the office behind Ozpin. Ozpin walked behind his desk and he fills his mug with more hot chocolate, which would be only his second that day. He sits down.

"I'll keep this brief so you can get settled in. First off, congratulations on taking down that Arachnae. Secondly, nice Semblances you have there. Which brings me to our discussion - using your Semblances," Ozpin starts off.

"What about them?" Cloud asks, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at the silver haired headmaster.

"You and Mr. Fair have rather dangerous Semblances. Seeing what they did to a Grimm brings worry to both myself and Glynda about what they could do to a person, Aura unlocked or not. Glynda has asked me to tell you, Mr. Strife, to not use yours in combat class or in a tournament. I ask that you only use it on a person if it is a life or death situation," Ozpin says, looking Cloud right in his MAKO blue eyes.

"Of course. I wouldn't want to harm any innocent person," Cloud says.

"As for you Mr. Fair.. I ask that you test out the different... possibilities of your Semblance. Film them and send them to me. I will give you my personal scroll number. I would like to access the different possibilities you get with your friendships with the other students. I ask that you don't use the connection with Miss Xiao Long against people unless it is a life or death situation. When you send me the videos, I will tell you which are acceptable for use against people and in tournaments," Ozpin says, looking now at the wolf faunus.

"Right-o! And I can already tell you that Aerith's connection is fine and I won't use Cloud's against people," Zack says, handing his scroll to Ozpin. Ozpin takes the scroll and puts his number in for Zack before handing it back.

"Oh? Why is that?" Oz asks curiously, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, back on Gaia, Limit Breaks are basically the same thing as Semblances as you probably recall us telling you. With Cloud, it's basically a big meteor shower. With Aerith, I had a big overall healing factor," Zack explains.

"I see. I'll take your word on it as you don't seem the type to lie and I trust your judgement on those two," Oz says.

"Is there anything else?" Aerith asks.

"Ah yes. You're fine Miss Gainsborough. As for Mr. Sinclair... Please discover your Semblance BEFORE using it in combat class or a tournament. I would also like to see this Semblance to determine if it is safe enough," the headmaster says.

"Works with me, yo," Reno says with a nod.

"Other than that, you are free to go. You have the rest of the day to do whatever you would like," Ozpin says with a smile. The four students nod and after parting ways with the headmaster, they head to their new dorm that they would be living in for the next four years here at Beacon. Upon entering the room, the four look around and see that their belongings were already there.

"Alright! First order of business! Rearrange and decorate!" Zack declares, grinning widely at his friends and teammates. His tail was wagging lightly in excitement.

"Yeah! Cloud, you want top or bottom bunk? Cause we doin' bunkbeds for space efficiency!" Reno says, looking at the blonde member.

"I'll take the bottom bunk," Cloud says. He and Reno carefully lift one of the beds onto the rightmost bed. It was some heavy lifting but thankfully with the Aura and Cloud's MAKO enhanced strength, the two managed to bunk the beds. Aerith and Zack had elected to turn the two leftmost beds so the heads of the beds were against the wall and then push them together. Aerith looks over at the bunkbed that was constructed and sweatdropped.

"Ummm.. Cloud... Reno.. That doesn't look very stable... Also, how are you going to get into the top bunk Reno?" Aerith says, worried for both of their safety.

"...Good point..." Cloud says, re-evaluating the work he and Reno just did.

"Oh yeah.. Well maybe we should go to Vale to get supplies? Also, I want to get a gun," Reno says.

"Ooo! And while we're at it, we can invite Teams RWBY and JNPR. Ruby looked like she wanted to talk to us anyways," Zack adds.

"Oh what a wonderful idea Zack! I think it would be nice to get to know both of those teams!" Aerith smiles, clapping her hands together.

"I think RWBY is right next to us and then JNPR is across from them if I saw the team name plates correctly," Cloud says. Zack hops up and he leaves the dorm to go invite the other two teams to Vale with them. ARC decides to personalize the rest, being careful around the bunkbed and then making sure to give Zack some space to personalize as well. The wolf faunus finds Team RWBY's dorm and he knocks on the door. He doesn't have to wait for long as the door is opened a few seconds later by none other than Ruby.

"Oh hi Zack! How'd your talk with Headmaster Ozpin go?" Ruby says with a smile.

"It was fine. I actually came here with a proposition for you guys. Me and my team are heading into Vale to get supplies to secure a bunkbed and Reno wants to get a gun in addition to his EMR. We figured we could invite your team and JNPR to tag along to get to know each other better," Zack explains. He noticed Ruby's eyes light up.

"I'll ask the others but I will definitely join! Can I help Reno pick out his gun?" Ruby says excitedly.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Zack says.

"Will do!" Ruby says before turning to her team. "Team RWBY! We're going to Vale to get to know Teams ZARC and JNPR!" she says into her room, causing the raven haired male to laugh before walking over to the door across and knocking. This time the door was opened by the red haired beauty that Cloud was talking to before initiation.

"Hello! Who are you again?" Pyrrha greets.

"Zack Fair! Team leader of Team ZARC!" Zack says. "What's your name again?"

"Pyrrha Nikos. But what brings you to our dorm Zack?" Pyrrha says pleasantly.

"Well my team and Team RWBY are going into Vale and we were wondering if your team would like to join us since we have the rest of the day to ourselves!" Zack explains.

"Oh that sounds like a wonderful idea!" Pyrrha says. She turns to her teammates and explains the situation. A few moments later, ZARC, JNPR and RWBY were gathered in the hallway and on their way to the bulkheads to get into Vale.

 **~ In Vale ~**

"Alright, first things first! Let's find a place that would have materials for the bunkbeds! Anyone have any idea where we could find that?" Zack says, looking at the rather large group.

"Ooo! I know a place! I know a place!" a very energetic girl says. "I'm Nora Valkyrie by the way in case you forgot! But how could anyone forget a totally awesome face like mine? Also, you're adorable!" Nora says. Aerith giggles.

"Zack is very adorable indeed!" the brunette says with a smile.

"I'm not adorable! I'm handsome!" Zack huffed, causing Aerith to giggle, Cloud to shake his head and Yang to wiggle her blonde eyebrows.

"Well Nora, would you mind showing the way then?" Cloud asks the hyperactive orange haired female.

"Let's go! Oh, Ren we should totally show them that awesome pancake house we found here!" Nora says, grabbing the hand of the black haired male with a magenta streak in his hair. The rest of the group starts to follow the oddly matched pair, only for Ruby to stop Reno.

"What's up shortstack?" Reno asks, looking at the much smaller girl.

"I was, uh, wondering if I could maybe help you pick out your gun? I really like weapons and I just want to make sure that you have a fitting weapon with you as every Hunter and Huntress should have.." Ruby says, starting to ramble.

"Sure thing, yo, but no need to ramble," Reno says, smirking at the red and black themed girl. Ruby blushed when Reno pointed out that she was blushing.

"Oops! Anyways, let's go! I know a really good store," Ruby says with a smile. She sends a message to Yang so that her sister knew where she disappeared to. Reno messaged Zack with the same information before following Ruby. Ruby peaks up at Reno. "So what type of gun are you looking for?"

"I'm thinking a handgun of some sort. It's what I'm used to. Should probably get one that can handle dust rounds as well," Reno answers.

"Well, do you care how heavy it is?" Ruby asks as she pushes open the door to a gun shop.

"I'd prefer something light but let's see what you have in mind," Reno says, stepping in behind Ruby. He noticed a rather burly looking man with dark skin, dark hair that was shaved on the sides and deep brown eyes.

"Ah Miss Rose, I see you brought a friend with you! How can I help you both today?" the burly man says.

"Hello Mr. Heartwood! This is my friend Reno Sinclair. We're here to pick out a gun for him. I'd also like to get a few magazines of normal rounds," Ruby greets.

"Certainly, how many? And what kind of gun are we getting you?" Mr. Heartwood says. Reno looks to Ruby.

"What types were you thinking shortstack?" Reno asks, causing the girl to blush at the nickname. He hid a smirk.

"Well I was thinking either a Glock 19 or the S&W Shield for Reno but also able to use dust rounds. And I'd like 5 more magazines," Ruby answers. Mr. Heartwood nods and he grabs a set of keys, unlocking the display case. He pulls out the two guns that Ruby had mentioned and places them on the counter for Reno to try holding. They were, of course, unloaded. He then turns to a locked cupboard and unlocks it with a different key, grabbing five magazines of sniper riffle bullets for Ruby. Reno walks up to the counter and picks up the Glock 19 first. He holds it in his right hand, and right hand only. He aims at one of the targets in the shop to see what the sight was like.

"Can I test these out?" Reno asks, looking at Mr. Heartwood.

"Certainly," Mr. Heartwood nods. He locks the cupboard he had open previously and then unlocks a different one. He grabs a 15 round magazine of rubber 9mms, double checking that it was the sport load. He does the same again but grabs an 8 round magazine. The shopkeeper sets the two magazines down. "15 round for the Glock, 8 round for the Shield."

"Thanks, yo," Reno says, picking up the 15 round magazine and putting into the Glock before giving it an experimental twirl. He steps back and after making sure that Ruby and Mr. Heartwood weren't in front of the target or too close to the target, he aims. Reno takes a breath and he fires the Glock 15 times, hit the target either dead center on the bulls-eye or pretty damn close to it. The redhead removes the empty magazine and sets both on the counter before picking up the S&W Shield and the 8 round magazine. As Reno loaded the smaller gun, he noticed Ruby looking at him with awe and looks at the girl.

"That was amazing! You basically had a perfect shot each time! And that's without a sniper riffle!" Ruby says, her silver eyes sparkling.

"Glad you think so shortstack," Reno says, smirking widely at the younger girl.

"Stop calling me that!" Ruby huffed, this time managing to hold back her blush. Reno bent down a bit to look at Ruby.

"Why don't you make me~?" Reno says, his celestine eyes sparkling with mischief. He watched for a moment as Ruby seemed momentarily stunned and mesmerized. Chuckling, the ex-Turk gently moves Ruby to the side and out of harms way. With the Shield in hand, he gives it a twirl before taking aim once more. He fires all 8 shots, getting the same hit rate as previous.

"If you don't mind my input, I think the Shield would be more suiting to you. It would be more concealed and in tournaments, you'd be able to surprise your enemies better," Mr. Heartwood says.

"I do like the feel of it better. But it's a shame that it only has 8 rounds. Oh well, I can efficiently change magazines," Reno says, putting the empty magazine on the counter.

"Wonderful choice. And how many magazines of each type of bullet would you like?" Mr. Heartwood asks, putting the Glock away and putting the empty magazines off to the side. Reno looks at Ruby.

"Yo Ruby, what do you recommend?" Reno asks, snapping the girl out of her dazed state. Ruby blinks before giving an answer to Mr. Heartwood. After Mr. Heartwood got the magazines and a holster for Reno, he rings up the prices for both of them, Ruby still thinking about Reno's pretty blue eyes. Sure Cloud and Zack also had blue eyes but they weren't the same as Reno's. She shook her head of the thought, not wanting to get caught in the same state as before. After saying their goodbyes and Reno putting the gun and holster on his belt, the two leave the store to go catch up with ZAC, WBY and JNPR.


	9. Supplies to Make Bonds

While Ruby and Reno had gone to the gun shop, the remaining 10 students had continued on their way to the supply shop that Nora had had in mind. WBY and JNPR decided that they would also get bunkbed supplies, since they had also done bunkbeds, as that would help prevent any possible injuries from a bed falling on someone. Nora dramatically poses outside the store, appropriately called Crafty Supplies.

"And here we are! The one stop shop for all your crafts and pranks!" Nora says, grinning widely. Zack's eyes light up a bit at the idea of pranks.

"Well since we ARE here to not only get supplies and to make friendships... We should split up to make things efficient," Weiss says.

"That would be the best plan. I think it would also be a good to pair people who aren't on the same team. Also, just so that everyone isn't gathering supplies for the bunkbeds, we assign two people of each team, into getting bunkbed supplies?" Jaune says, surprising a few people with his idea.

"What a wonderful idea Jaune. I'll be one for JNPR," Pyrrha says with a smile.

"Obviously Cloud you have to get supplies since it's your bed. But that means either myself or Aerith will get supplies," Zack says.

"I don't mind helping in gathering the supplies Zack," Aerith says with a smile.

"Ren? Nora? Either of you want to gather supplies or shall I do it?" Jaune asks his teammates.

"I'M GOING WITH THE CUTE WOLF FAUNUS!" Nora shouts.

"Just don't try to steal Zack from Aerith.." Cloud sweatdrops.

"Cloud! How dare you assume that I could ever love someone other than Aerith or even think about cheating on my precious flower girl!" Zack says, being dramatic.

"And that's assuming I'm a homewrecker, which I'm not. Besides, I know a fellow prankster when I see one!" Nora says.

"Oh..." Cloud says, his cheeks flushing slightly. His intentions were well placed but... not necessary it would appear.

"ANYWAYS," Weiss says, loudly. "I will go for Team RWBY since Ruby isn't here."

"And I'll help as well. I'll go with Aerith.. If you're alright with it?" Blake says. Aerith nods, confirming that it was alright with her.

"May I go with you Pyrrha?" Cloud asks, doing his best to hide his blush and avoiding the knowing look Zack was sending him.

"Of course Cloud!" Pyrrha says with a smile. She was quite glad actually that Cloud asked her.

"So which one of you will be with me?" Weiss asks, looking at the two males, her hands on her hips. The two males look at each other for a moment, both silently agreeing that it should be Jaune. Ren would rather go with Yang as Yang seemed similar to Nora and he did NOT want to interact with Weiss on his own for too long. Jaune wanted to go with Weiss anyways as he did have a thing for the Schnee heiress. The blonde swordsman also wanted to make things up to Weiss.

"I will go with you Weiss," Jaune says. He offers a pleasant smile to the Ice Queen, surprising a few that he didn't try to flirt Weiss up.

"Alright! Remember you will need screws, connecting plates and probably a drill! Now let's split!" Zack says, grinning widely. He heads off with Nora into the store, the hyperactive pair going to look at all of the possible pranking ideas. AB, JW and CP go off to find the needed materials while RY go off to just wander the store.

 **~ Zack and Nora ~**

Nora leads Zack to the more prankster part of the store, which happened to be in the back of the store. Zack made a mental note to bring Reno here, knowing that the redhead would love to get his hands on this. Zack looks at Nora.

"You would probably like Reno too. He's a prankster just like me. In fact, Reno and I often got up to a lot of mischief together shortly after knowing each other," Zack comments as he looks at a shelf of normal gag materials.

"Yes! My prankster pegging skills are on top of my game! Oooo we should form a secret pranking club, where people can only join by invitation!" Nora exclaims. Zack smirks.

"I like that! We could probably also get Yang in on that then too" Zack says thoughtfully.

"Yes! Can we form a name with Z, R, N and Y?" Nora asks.

"Er... I can't think of anything... Last names would be F, V, S and X which doesn't help either..." Zack pouts.

"Actually, if we use V instead of N for me... We could be the Survey Group, but spelled ZRVY!" Nora says.

"Genius! Nora, you are a genius," Zack says, holding his hand up for a high-five. He gets a very solid and powerful high-five from the hammer wielding female. Zack felt another connection made in his mind and couldn't wait to

"Watch out Beacon! Here comes ZRVY!" Nora says, grinning widely.

 **~ Aerith and Blake ~**

Aerith and Blake decided to go left to search for the needed supplies. Neither of them knew the layout that well and it seemed like that only Nora seemed to know where everything was. The two walk in a comfortable silence, searching for the supplies before Aerith decides to break it by stopping Blake for a moment.

"Blake, I don't mean to be rude, but you always seem tense around Zack.. Is there a problem?" Aerith asks, her voice gentle. Blake's eyes widen for a moment.

"Er, what do you mean? I'm not tense around him.." Blake lies, not wanting Aerith to find out she was a faunus. However, a thought came across her mind - Aerith was dating Zack who was a faunus...

"Blake, you can tell me anything, I promise," Aerith says, taking Blake's hand gently, her bright green eyes gazing warmly into Blake's yellow eyes. Blake gives in and sighs softly.

"Just don't tell anyone else yet... Though I suppose Zack already knows.." Blake says. "I'm also a faunus.. But I'm a cat faunus so I'm a little uneasy around Zack since he's a wolf faunus.. Ya know, instincts?"

"Oh! That's it? Thank goodness! I thought Zack may have done something stupid while I wasn't looking," Aerith says. "It's alright Blake. You should only fear Zack if you manage to truly piss him off by threatening my life."

"That's.. actually reassuring. I would never want to harm you. You're too sweet Aerith," Blake says, relaxing upon hearing Aerith's words.

"Thank you Blake," Aerith says, smiling. Her eyes go to the bow. "Are you hiding ears with your bow?"

"Yeah.. I assume you'd want to see them now that you know?" Blake asks. Aerith gives her a pleading look and Blake sighs before removing the ribbon and revealing her cat ears.

"Oh my goodness! You're so adorable!" Aerith squeals at seeing the cat ears, causing the cat faunus to chuckle. Blake wraps her ears back up before anyone else sees her ears.

"Thanks... I guess?" Blake says, an actual smile gracing her lips.

"You're welcome. Now Blake, if you ever need someone to lean on or need help with the whole faunus thing.. Team ZARC has its arms wide open to you."

"Really? You mean it?"

"Of course! We have our own faunus, don't we?"

"Right..." Blake says. She pauses before hugging Aerith. "Thank you," she whispers. Aerith hugs back.

"You're welcome Blake," Aerith says. The two girls pull back and smile at each other before heading off to find the supplies.

 **~ Jaune and Weiss ~**

Jaune and Weiss went to the right to search for the materials. It was an awkward silence as either searched the various aisles. Jaune was trying to figure out how to talk to Weiss so that she didn't think he was flirting with her. Weiss was quiet as she had hoped that Jaune wouldn't have been the one to go with her, having a feeling he would try to flirt her up. However, as much as she knew she would regret talking to Jaune, she couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"That's it. This silence is awkward. Why did you volunteer to go with me Jaune? Just to flirt with me?" Weiss says, finally breaking the silence. Her icy glare was fixed on Jaune.

"No! I swear it wasn't to just flirt with you!" Jaune says, putting his hands up in a submissive manner. "I just want to get to know you better.. I realize I might have gotten off on the wrong foot with you and I figured, what better way than to restart by taking this time alone to actually get to know you?"

"Oh... I see. I'm sorry Jaune. I honestly thought you just wanted to flirt with me like you did earlier today before initiation.." Weiss says, honestly surprised once more by him. "I suppose we could try to get to know each other. But whatever you do, don't EVER call me Snow Angel or Ice Queen again."

"Deal," Jaune says, glad that Weiss was willing to move past that whole ordeal. He knew that she wasn't as cold as she made herself to be. "So what made you want to become a Huntress, and why Beacon?"

"Well, my older sister Winter became one at Atlas. Because she's in the military, the title of heiress fell to me. To prove myself worthy of such a title, I wanted to become a Huntress. And what better academy than Beacon?" Weiss says, continuing the search for supplies. She held herself with pride as she walked next to Jaune. "What about you Jaune? You don't exactly seem the type to be a Hunter."

"Well my great-great-grandfather fought in the Great War and was a hero. I wanted to be a hero much like him and all of his descendants. I also want to prove that I can do this," Jaune says.

"Interesting.. Very admirable I must say," Weiss compliments. "Don't ever let any of my teammates know I said this but... You've got a mind for tactics, even if you seem behind everyone else. I think you could be a great leader Jaune. Don't let me down, especially since I was not made leader," she says, glancing at the blonde. Jaune was shocked at hearing Weiss compliment him, not just once, but twice! Sure Weiss seemed to be upset that she wasn't team leader but the fact that she was encouraging him, still on their second day, first day as teams, was music to his ears! With a determined look in his blue eyes, the sole son of the Arc family decides from this day on he was going to prove that he was worthy of his title and make not only his team proud, but Weiss proud.

 **~ Cloud and Pyrrha ~**

Cloud and Pyrrha went into the middle to find the supplies. It only took them a few tries to find all of the supplies. The two gathered the correct amount of parts each would need: one drill, sixteen connecting plates and a package of screws.

"Well, that was easy! Looks like we got lucky, didn't we Cloud?" Pyrrha says, looking at her companion.

"Yeah, I was expecting to be the unlucky one," Cloud says, nodding in agreement. "You would think they would label the aisles."

"Well, I think they purposely didn't label the aisles as a play on words. Crafty supplies... Crafty setup.." Pyrrha says.

"That... Actually makes sense. You're smart Pyrrha," Cloud says. Pyrrha blushed at Cloud's compliment.

"Oh uh thank you Cloud. You seem really close with your team.. Were you all friends?"

"yeah. I've known Zack the longest. And because of Zack, I met Reno and Aerith. I will warn you ahead of time... Zack and Reno can be trouble but Aerith does her best to tame the two of them."

"Noted. And bless Aerith's soul for dealing with those two. Though I worry about how things will go with Nora thrown in there.."

"One word: Mayhem. If you don't mind me asking... Why do people seem to be obsessed with you?" Cloud asks, tilting his spiky head at the Grecian themed warrior. Pyrrha sighed softly.

"I'm known as the Invincible Girl for having won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row," Pyrrha explained.

"Huh. Impressive. I wonder how you would do against Zack. He's by far the best fighter of our team," Cloud says. When Cloud didn't fanboy over this fact, Pyrrha felt happiness bubble up inside her. She starts to hold onto the hope she had from earlier that day; the hope she had being that she could make a meaningful relationship with Cloud, whether it be just friendship or possibly something more.

"Maybe Professor Goodwitch will let us spar in our combat class tomorrow," Pyrrha says. After a moment, she looks at Cloud, this time, catching his brilliant blue eyes. "Cloud, what was the reason you stepped in earlier? I thought it was because you knew who I was.."

"Uh to be honest... Most of it was because you looked really uncomfortable and I wanted to make it less awkward for you.." Cloud says, rubbing the back of his neck, his face heating up as he didn't reveal the second reason. His eyes didn't break contact yet.

"And the other part..?" Pyrrha pressed. Her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"Uuhh... The other part is because you're pretty and I wanted to get to know you.." Cloud says, his eyes breaking contact when he finished, his face heating up almost as red as Pyrrha's hair. Pyrrha felt her own cheeks up.

"Oh! That's a pleasant surprise," Pyrrha says. Cloud glanced up.

"You're not annoyed with me? For stepping in just because you're pretty..?" Cloud asks, confused.

"No! Not at all! I find it flattering!" Pyrrha says. Cloud relaxed and smiles.

"So friends at least?" Cloud asks.

"Definitely," the red-haired huntress confirms. The two share a smile and make their way towards the counter, chatting in a more comfortable tone.

 **~ Ren and Yang ~**

Ren and Yang just start wandering the store, looking around. Well, Yang was more so looking at Ren with interesting, trying to figure out how to get the quiet boy, who reminded her of her own partner, to speak up. Ren knew that Yang was trying to figure him out, just like Nora used to do when he and Nora were younger. His magenta eyes meet Yang's lilac ones.

"You know.. You and Blake are similar to me and Nora," Ren says.

"Whoa! I was just thinking something similar!" Yang says. A mischievous grin appears on her lips. "Wanna go spy on Jaune and Weiss and also Pyrrha and Cloud?" she asks.

"Mmm... Maybe another time. I don't think too much can be inferred at this point," Ren points out, causing Yang to pout.

"Dammit! I was hoping to find out some juicy information!" Yang whined lightly. Ren rolls his eyes at the blonde brawler's childish behavior.

"You and Ruby are half-sisters.. Correct?" Ren asks.

"Yup! Same dad. Though speaking of my little sister... I think she might have a crush on Reno.." Yang says, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"I did find that a little suspicious that she wanted to go with Reno alone, even if it IS a gun shop. I can tell that Ruby is a weapon enthusiast but she doesn't seem like the type to go to a weapon shop alone with a guy," Ren points out.

"Oh yeah, knowing Rubes, if she didn't like Reno in that manner, she probably would have asked me to tag along. I'm totally going to mess with her by flirting Reno up," Yang says, satisfied with her new plan.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Yang?" Ren asks, arching a black eyebrow.

"Of course it's a good idea! My baby sister is finally seeing romance options instead of just her weapons! Did I expect her to go for Reno? Nope!"

"True.. I would have expected her to go for Cloud or Jaune, that is after finding out that Zack is taken."

"Oh yeah. I was betting on Cloud after seeing that Zack was taken. But surprise~ She went for the teasing redhead!" Yang says, making jazz hands. Ren chuckled. Normally he wouldn't talk about this kind of thing but even he had to admit that it was quite weird to see someone fall in love with someone so quickly. Not even Nora's crush on him was that quick.

"Should be interesting to see if it lasts at all," Ren says. He noticed Yang smirking at him. "What?"

"Definitely did not peg you as a gossiper or the type of guy that was curious about other's relationships."

"To be honest, I'm not. It just struck me as odd is all," Ren shrugs. He then looks towards the back of the store. "I just got a bad feeling and something tells me Nora and Zack are up to something..."

"I wonder what it is!"

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough knowing Nora..." Ren says. After wandering the store some more, making conversation with Yang here and there, the two head towards the entrance when they noticed that the six gathering supplies had assembled there. The duo head over and soon enough were joined by Zack and Nora. Shortly after exiting the store, the now ten met up with Ruby and Reno.


	10. Pancakes! Also, Class I Guess

After Ruby and Reno had regrouped, Nora once again led everyone to a pancake house she had discovered downtown. Ruby really wanted Reno to show off his gun since the others knew that he had a gun but knew that downtown wasn't exactly the best place to show off the gun. Yang decided to hang back to talk with Ruby, mostly just to grill her about her "alone" time with Reno. What kind of big sister would she be if she didn't tease her little sister about her not so subtle crush on the handsome redhead.

"Soooooooo how was your time with Reno~?" Yang asks, a slight smirk on her lips. Ruby blushed a bit.

"It was.. fun. We got the perfect gun for him," Ruby answered, looking down to hide her face and pressing her pointer fingers together.

"Just fun? Nothing special happened~?" Yang prompted, nudging the small leader, sensing that she wanted to say more.

"Weellll... Reno did some test shots and he got nearly 100% accuracy! I've never seen ANYONE that accurate with a handgun! He's as accurate as I am with Crescent Rose! He was just so cool and had the most laid back stance that made him even cooler!" Ruby gushes, no longer able to hide it, hoping that Reno wasn't listening. Yang just grins and hugs Ruby.

"Aw! My baby sis is finally noticing boys confirmed!" Yang says, hugging her little sister tightly.

"Yaaaanngg! Let go of me! You're embarrassing me!" Ruby squeaks, not being able to break out of the brawler's tight hold. After another squeeze, Yang releases the reaper and the two quickly catch up to the rest. The three teams enter the pancake house which fortunately wasn't too busy. They're brought to a large booth that sat six people on each bench comfortably. On the booth closest to the entrance left to right was Zack, Aerith, Yang, Weiss, Jaune and then Pyrrha. On the opposing side starting from across Zack, was Ren, Nora, Blake, Ruby, Reno and then Cloud. They decided to split the teams like this to further make friendships between the three teams. There was also some... match making going on. The teams make their orders and enjoy their time at the pancake house, Zack feeling a bunch of connections being made for his Digital Mind Wave.

 **~ The Next Day! ~**

Team ZARC was up and ready for classes. Well, at least ZAC was.. Reno, not so much. They all had the uniform on, Reno wearing it loosely, just like he did with his ShinRa uniform. The group walks down to the cafeteria to have breakfast, noticing that neither team RWBY nor team JNPR were down. They all shrug as they sit and fill up their plates with food. Reno slowly starts to wake up and lets out one more yawn. The five minute warning bell goes off and team ZARC heads off to their first class: Grimm Studies with Professor Port. Aerith decides that their team would sit in the middle of class, having a feeling that Zack will have some hard time focusing on classes and figured that the middle would help Zack focus some but if he loses focus, it wouldn't be as noticeable. Just as team ZARC sits down, the bell rings as teams RWBY and JNPR enter the classroom and hurriedly takes their seats. A short man with a majestic grey mustache stands up from his seat behind the desk

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. However, I like to call them prey!" the stout professor says. After an awkward pause, he continues "And some day, you shall too. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! But that's where you all step in - the young sparks of hope for humanity. Now that I have your attention, welcome to Grimm Studies. My name is Professor Port and here you will learn about the Grimm, all while hearing about my glorious days a young Huntsman!"

"This sounds like it might be a bore of a class..." Zack muttered to Reno, who nodded in agreement. Zack almost falls asleep during Port's story that he immediately launched into. While he was almost asleep, like a lot of the class, Ruby was doodling and starting to annoy Weiss indirectly.

"Now! A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! Who here thinks they embody the traits of a Huntsman?" Professor Port asks, scanning the classroom. He spots a hand shooting up and smiles. "Ah, Miss Schnee! Please take five minutes to get ready!" After five minutes, Weiss returns in the clothes she wore during initiation, Myrtenaster in hand. Once Weiss was poised and ready, Professor Port takes his blunderbuss-axe and swings it down on the cage that he had pulled out from behind his desk. The cage opens and a Boarbatusk comes shooting out at Weiss in a wheel of white. The Schnee Heiress moves out of the way, lashing out Myrtenaster just to be on the safe side, but it simple just sparked off the bone armor.

"Go for its underbelly! There's no bone armor there!" Ruby calls out to her teammate, just wanting her to do the best. Weiss grit her teeth at one, how she forgot that simple information and two, how her.. immature.. team leader was telling her what to do. Instead of lashing out like she would like to, Weiss takes the opportunity of the stunned Boarbatusk to knock it onto its back, using a glyph. She uses another glyph to propel herself forward and impales the Boarbatusk through its underbelly.

"Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training," Professor Port praises. Weiss has a look of satisfaction on her face and holds her head up high in pride. Port then dismisses the class and Ruby goes to Weiss out in the hallway.

"Good job Weiss!" Ruby says happily, however, her smile fades a bit when an icy glare is focused on her.

"You're lucky you didn't distract me with your shouting. If you really think you're a leader, then perhaps you should act like one," Weiss says, her frustration from earlier seeping out into her words.

"Hey! That's uncalled for! It's only day one. I obviously don't have it down pat. Why are you being so nasty? You were fine yesterday..." Ruby says.

"Because honestly, I should have been team leader. You're immature and reckless!" Weiss says. Zack had stayed behind to check on Ruby and Weiss when noticing the two didn't follow everyone else. He frowns hearing Weiss and he approaches.

"Hey now, no need to be so rude! You could at least give constructive criticism instead of just tearing Ruby down! Your attitude is uncalled for, heiress or not. Yes, Ruby can be immature but keep in mind, she's only 15. Also, ANYONE can be immature," Zack says, trying to diffuse the situation before it could get worse. Weiss looked at Zack with a mix of shock and annoyance. Zack just crosses his arms over his chest, and just stares Weiss down, waiting for her to give in. Weiss eventually gives in with a sigh. She turns to Ruby.

"Look, I'm.. sorry. I just really wanted to be team leader but clearly Headmaster Ozpin saw something in you that made him deem you worthy. I'll try not to be so harsh with my words as long as you try to act more like an actual leader," Weiss says, the apology genuine. Ruby smiles.

"Apology accepted! I'll try my best but like Zack said, I am going to be a bit more immature than everyone else. But I will do my best to prove that I am worthy of the title!" Ruby says. Weiss smiles a very small smile.

"Well let's get to Professor Oobleck's class then? Wouldn't be wise to be late," Weiss says. Ruby nods in agreement and heads off to History. Zack made to follow but had heard Ozpin approach and once more stayed behind. He turns and looks at the headmaster.

"Great work Mr. Fair. I'm impressed with how quickly you were able to diffuse the situation. For a moment, I thought Miss Schnee was going to tear into you next," Ozpin says, a hint of amusement in his voice. Zack chuckled lightly.

"I didn't want my friends to fight and I guess you could say I try to be diplomatic whenever possible, despite my love of fighting," Zack says, rubbing the back of his neck. Ozpin nods.

"That's a good skill to have. Now I suggest you run off to your next class," Ozpin says, sipping his hot chocolate. With a nod and playful salute, Zack dashes off to History. He makes it in time and plops down next to Cloud just as Professor Oobleck started his lesson and zooming around. This lesson at the least was easy enough to stay awake during, due to the fact that Oobleck was constantly moving. The green haired professor suddenly stops.

"Now! Who can tell me why the Faunus had the advantage during the war?" Oobleck asks, scanning the class for any unwilling volunteers. He looks for a student who seemed to think slacking off was permitted in his class. "Mr. Winchester! Please answer the question!"

"Cause animals are easier to train," Cardin smirks, his anti-Faunus prejudice out in the open. This causes Zack to growl slightly, not liking this kid's attitude. Cloud just puts a hand on the ex-1st Class SOLDIER's shoulder to make sure his friend and leader didn't do something stupid.

"Actually, it's because most Faunus have night vision," Pyrrha supplies, glaring at the obvious bully.

"Also, General Lagune attempted to ambush the Faunus army in the middle of the night, only to be captured after his army was defeated," Blake adds in, also glaring at Cardin.

"Correct Miss Belladonna and Miss Nikos! Mr. Winchester, you will stay after class for a few minutes," Oobleck states, obviously displeased with CDNL's leader and his attitude.

 **~ Miniature Timeskip! ~**

Teams RWBY, JNPR and ZARC were all seated in the large room that was to hold their Combat Class. Everyone was excited for it as it chance for all of them to hone their skills while simultaneously showing off without the chance of dying. Despite the fact that Glynda would be the one teaching the Combat Class, the excitement did not deter.

"The first week of your Combat Class will be to access your combat level and skills. When you are fighting someone, you will be fighting by tournament rules. That means once your Aura is in the red OR you are knocked out of the ring, the tournament will end. It can also end should someone yield, be knocked out or if I deem the fight unsafe to continued," Glynda says. She pulls out her scroll and runs the random pairing program, which was displayed on the rather large screen behind her. Soon enough, Zack's profile and Pyrrha's profile were shown on the screen. "Our first match will be Mr. Fair and Miss Nikos. You both have five minutes to get ready and come back."

"This should be fun!" Zack grins at Pyrrha who nods enthusiastically. The two head off to get changed. Pyrrha was curious as to how she would do against Zack after her talk with Cloud in Crafty Supplies. Five minutes later, Pyrrha and Zack return and are on opposing sides of the ring. Zack was in his 1st Class SOLDIER gear, the Buster Sword on his back. Pyrrha was in her Grecian themed armor, Akoúo̱ on her left arm and Miló in her right hand. Glynda gives the two the okay to start and the two immediately charge, Zack drawing the Buster Sword as he ran.

Zack brings the sword down in overhead cleave, Pyrrha blocking it with her shield, sparks flying at the contact. Pyrrha goes to swipe at Zack's unprotected midsection with Miló, only for the wolf-faunus to start pressing down against Akoúo̱ with his superior strength. Pyrrha in turn, uses a small bit of her Semblance to help push the Buster Sword off her shield as she was starting to lean backwards. She backs up to regain her footing. Zack gains his and he launches another attack, this time a downward diagonal slash going from upper right to lower left, only for his sword to just barely miss Pyrrha. Frowning, Zack immediately launches again, this time going from bottom left to upper right. Pyrrha had once more activated her Semblance a bit and then moves to the side and thrusts Miló into Zack's side. The raven-haired male grunted a bit as the javelin hit him. After a few more test attacks, Zack realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere with the Buster Sword so he leaps backwards to avoid getting hit by Miló again. He puts the Buster Sword in the ground, having some instinct telling him her Semblance was similar to his magnetic holster.

Pyrrha sees Zack backing up and takes that chance to switch Miló to rifle form and starts shooting at Zack. The wolf-faunus dodges and rolls his way towards Pyrrha, a bullet nicking him here and there. He activated his Semblance and three portraits of Ruby line up, the phrase "Speed Is Key!" flashing for a moment as he finally gets in melee range. Letting his Semblance take over and not giving Pyrrha too much of a chance to fight back, Zack starts his attack. His fists and feet go flying, barely visible as he pummels the Grecian themed Huntress. Due to his MAKO and Aura enhanced strength, the ten second attack dealt a decent amount of damage on Pyrrha, her Aura far under his as she had no way of blocking the attack. Glynda noticed this one of Zack's possible combinations and had secretly filmed it for Ozpin, glad that it did not endanger Pyrrha and also glad that Pyrrha had a very large Aura supply and could handle such an assault.

When the assault was over, Zack had to back up, panting a bit as the intensity of the speed was a little tiring. Pyrrha took that opportunity to attack again, swiping left to right at Zack's abdomen. Zack takes the hit, only to grab Miló in attempt to rip out of Pyrrha's hand. He then gets bashed by Akoúo̱, causing him to stumble backwards. Pyrrha had kept her grip on the javelin and advances again. Zack saw her approach and feinted a grab at Miló, causing the redhead to move lunge forward. The spiky haired male stepped to her left and quickly sent a harsh kick to her back, sending his opponent spiraling to the ground. Pyrrha glanced at her Aura and saw she was in the orange almost red whereas Zack had just got to yellow. In last ditch attempt, Pyrrha used her position on the ground to chuck her shield at Zack's legs, only for him to jump over it. She was on one knee at this point and held her arms up in a block to block the punch Zack threw.

"Match Over! Mr. Fair is the winner as Miss Nikos's Aura is in the red. I believe you have met your match Miss Nikos," Glynda says. "I have no criticisms to give you at the moment, so please go change and take your seats when you return." The two nod at her words. Zack offers a hand to Pyrrha and helps her out.

"Wonderful match Zack!" Pyrrha says, happy that SOMEONE could actually beat her.

"You're not mad?" Zack asks, as they each went to retrieve their weapons.

"Of course not! I'm actually glad I met someone who could beat me," Pyrrha answers as she walks out with Zack. Neither saw that the next match-up was Reno vs Yang.


	11. Reno VS Yang! And Zack's DMW

As Pyrrha and Zack left the room, Yang's and Reno's portraits were shown. The two looked at each other and smirked wickedly before getting up to go to the locker room as well to get ready. Yang was totally going to take this chance to flirt Reno up, just to annoy the shit out of her little sister, that is if Reno played along. The two greeted Pyrrha and Zack, and all four headed back to the classroom, Zack and Pyrrha in their uniforms and back in their seats whereas Yang and Reno were in their combat clothes and on the stage. Ember Celica was out in gauntlet form, whereas the EMR was out in full length and set to stun and the Shield hidden under Reno's jacket and on his waistband. In the crowd, a red-hooded girl was conflicted on who to root for: her sister and teammate or one of her first friends and crush. Glynda gives them the okay to start the match.

"Hope you're ready hotshot! Cause I'm starting this off with a Yang!" Yang smirks as she launches herself forward with two shotgun blasts behind her forward. Reno snickered at the pun.

"Well, you didn't give me much of a choice, Blondie!" Reno retorts, rolling out of the way. He lashed out with the EMR, landing a hit on Yang's back who twitched a bit, since her Aura took the hit. She kicks out, landing a strike on Reno's face and shoving him to the ground. Yang smirked as she seemed to have Reno pinned where he was, and punches Reno's face. The redhead took the hit just so that he could backhand Yang with his EMR, giving him time to get back up. When he looked up, he was surprised at the sight he saw.

Yang was not too happy about getting backhanded and electrocuted across the face. It was not a very pleasant face. Also, who the hell struck someone across the face like that? She had felt her Aura deplete pretty harshly and glancing towards her Aura level, she was first shocked and angered to see her Aura had just entered yellow while Reno's was yellow-green. Her Semblance activates, her eyes turning red and her hair now on fire.

"Aw fuck..." Reno muttered when he saw the fire. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Oh you bet you're in trouble! Better hope you still have a pretty face after this!" Yang said before running towards Reno who danced out of Yang's reach, not wanting to get hit by those very powerful punches. Yang, getting tired of Reno's evasion feints a right hook at him only to sweep his legs out with her left leg, causing him to land on his ass, losing his grip on his EMR. Reno was partially glad for not wearing the strap as he would have shocked himself. He grabs his gun from under his jacket quickly as Yang kicked him in the chest. Reno grunts and aims his gun at Yang, only to realize that would be unsafe to shoot point blank with how low her Aura is. Reno felt his instincts acting up and followed them, scowling.

The crowd watched with bated breath as the brawler of Team RWBY and the heartthrob of Team ZARC fought. It was just as intense as watching the Invincible Girl fight the powerhouse wolf-Faunus of Team ZARC. People were starting to wonder if Team ZARC were just a bunch of powerhouses that came out of nowhere. Everyone watched as Reno aims his gun to the side and fire a shot... Only for the bullet to change directions and hit Yang in the side, the brawler stumbling off course from her target, the punch missing Reno's face.

Reno let out a breath of relief when his instincts served him well. He wasn't expecting his Semblance to be redirecting bullets. He would have to experiment with other's bullets later. Right now, he had to focus on either lowering Yang into the red or getting her out of the ring, the former looking like the better option. He scrambled up and ran to his EMR, glancing at the Aura levels. It was a close fight, both were in the yellow-orange range. With his EMR in his left hand and his gun in his right hand, Reno aims at Yang who charged. He fires off three shots, Yang dodging the bullets. He redirects them into Yang's back... Propelling her forward some. It wasn't enough to knock her into the red. What was enough was a strike from his EMR. But, just as he hit Yang, Yang had punched him with an angry and powerful punch that knocked him into the red at the same time.

"Match Over! It is a tie between Mr. Sinclair and Miss Xiao Long," Glynda shouts, to make sure the two combatants didn't continue to fight. Reno deactivates his EMR and collapses it, while holstering his gun again. The fire dies down and Yang's eyes turn back to lilac, Ember Celica turning back into bracelets.

"Nice... fight.. Blondie.." Reno pants. "Pretty impressive.. punches.. you got, yo."

"Not so bad.. yourself.. for a pretty.. boy.." Yang grinned. Both look to Glynda for feedback.

"Mr. Sinclair, while I can tell you are very well coordinated with your EMR, I would suggest figuring out how to keep your EMR attached to you without the risk of electrocuting yourself. Also, thank you for not shooting Miss Xiao Long point blank. As for you Miss Xiao Long, I would advise not losing your temper over something like getting hit in the face. Also, don't flirt all of your opponents up all the time.. It won't work," Glynda says. The two snicker softly before heading back to the locker rooms to get changed. The rest of the fights that class weren't that exciting and of no one important.

After Combat Class was let out, Teams RWBY, JNPR and ZARC had all decided to meet up in one of the training rooms to test out some theories with Reno's and Zack's Semblances and to spend more time together. Everyone was dressed in their casual wear, which was also what they wore for combat. Zack was bouncing up and down, ready to try his different DMW match-ups out. Team ZARC was the first to show, then JNPR and finally RWBY.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin!" Zack says excitedly.

"First things first... Which match-ups do you know and what do they do?" Weiss asks. Zack explains Aerith's, Cloud's, Ruby's and Yang's match-ups.

"Ooooh, that's why you were able to rapid fire hit me.. It was because of Ruby," Pyrrha says, intrigued.

"What?" Ruby squeaked.

"Don't worry about it sis! Pyrrha just meant that your connection to Zack was why he moved as fast as you did!" Yang laughed.

"Oooohh..." Ruby says, her face flushing with embarrassment. She hides her face with her hood.

"Aw, why you hiding your face, yo? You look cute like that," Reno says, causing the small girl to eep and hide her face even more. Aerith decided to save the young leader.

"Anyways, we'll start with another one of Zack's match-ups. We have to send Headmaster Ozpin videos so that he can deem which ones are okay to use in Combat Class and in tournaments," Aerith says. She had Zack's Scroll ready. Everyone backed up and Zack activated his Semblance. Three portraits of Reno appear in his mind as the phrase "Didn't See That Coming?" flashes. He launches an attack on one dummy before rebounding to his left to hit another target and once more to a third target.

"That was me, wasn't it?" Reno asks, grinning. He gets a nod from the wolf-Faunus. Zack activates it again, this time getting Nora and the phrase "Joy Buzzer Extreme!" flashing. Everyone watches as Zack's Aura floods with electricity and his Aura drain slowly. Zack runs over to a dummy and punched it, watching as the dummy is electrocuted.

"Ooooooo I wanna be hit with that! That looks like fun!" Nora says.

"How is that fun?" Weiss asks, looking at Nora like she was crazy... Which wasn't wrong.

"Electric based attacks don't hurt me! They actually power me up! That's my Semblance!" Nora grinned.

"That.. would be why... And that was obvious the Nora connection," Weiss states. Another nod was given. Zack does a third time and gets three of Ren. "Now You See Me. Now You Don't!" appears in his mind and his zaffre blue Aura seems to fizzle out. Those who were watching still saw him, however one particular spiky blonde hadn't been paying attention. Zack waited and had to stifle a snort upon seeing the confused look on his Chocobo's face. Zack just strolls up to Cloud and jabs him in the side, causing Cloud to yelp in pain and surprise.

"What the Lifestream-loving fuck?!" Cloud shouted. "Where did you come from?!"

"From in front of the dummy," Zack laughed. Everyone was confused as to who that was from.

"Was that from me, Zack?" Ren asks.

"You bet, you ninja!" Zack grins. Nora immediately latches onto Ren.

"I know right? He's such a ninja! It's soooo cool! But so is Blake! But it's obvious why she's a ninja!" Nora says, pointing at Blake. The cat-Faunus froze a bit when Nora said that. Her yellow eyes locked with Zack's blue ones, begging him not to activate her connection. Zack saw this and excuses himself, motioning for Blake to follow him. ARC knew what was up and instantly distracted everyone with Reno's Semblance theory.

"Who wants to shoot me?" Reno asks, grabbing RWY's and JNPR's attention.

"What? Why do you want to be shot?! I though Nora was the crazy one?" Jaune asks, alarmed.

"Don't worry about it dude. I have a theory I want to try out. So I can redirect my own bullets right? Can I redirect other bullets?" Reno says.

"Ooooh... That makes sense..." Jaune says relaxing.

"I think either Yang or Pyrrha should do the honors," Ren suggests.

"I'll do it!" Pyrrha volunteered, knowing that Yang was all too eager to get back at Reno from earlier. Reno was quite relieved. He stood next to the dummy. Pyrrha had Miló in rifle form and aims at Reno and fires off a shot. Reno watches, with some difficulty, and waits for the right moment to redirect the bullet to his right, and then into the center of the dummy. He grins.

"Oh wow! That's so cool! Now you can have 100% accuracy all the time!" Ruby gushes. Reno chuckles.

"You bet shortstack," Reno says, causing Ruby to huff but also blush.

"ooooooo! Reno! I have an idea I want to test with you!" Nora says, Magnhild now in its grenade launcher form. "Grenades!"

"Sure! Why not!" Reno says, causing Ren, Aerith and Cloud to face-palm at the two. Nora launches a grenade at Reno, which was a lot easier to redirect, but this acted like a bouncing, causing the grenade to explode next to him.

"Well, that happened," Yang says, blinking.

 **~ With Zack and Blake ~**

Zack pulled Blake aside in the hallway. He looks to the panicked cat-Faunus and waits for her to calm down enough to voice her concerns. Blake first makes sure that no one else was in the hallway with them before taking a moment to calm down. When calmed, she looks at Zack.

"Please don't activate my connection with everyone else around! It's only the second day with everyone and I'm not ready to tell everyone, even if you guys are there for support," Blake says, managing to keep her voice steady.

"I'll try not to. I have SOME control over who I have be my connection. I suggest you plan with one of my teammates to hatch a plan to get everyone out when it's time for the last one. I highly suggest Reno. He's very good at distractions," Zack says.

"So I noticed when we left. Alright, thanks Zack. And I'm sorry if I'm jumpy around you.." Blake says.

"Don't worry about it!" the raven-haired male said before walking back into the gym with Blake. Neither Faunus were surprised at the sight of seeing Nora shoot Reno with a grenade.

"Well, that happened," Yang says, blinking.

"Don't even think about it Yang!" Ruby says, knowing that her sister was going to go for a horrible pun, causing said blonde to pout.

"Anyways! Shall we continue exploring my connections?" Zack says. Everyone nodded and the leader of Team ZARC activates it once more. This time Weiss appears with "Weiss Spike Barrage!", causing Zack to snort at the words. He picks a dummy and motions with his hand as five second barrage of ice spikes comes raining down.

"So that was Weiss obviously... So why were you laughing?" Cloud asks.

"It was called Weiss Spike Barrage," Zack says sheepishly, grinning and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hell yes!" "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Yang and Weiss said at the same time, though Weiss more like groaned. Zack chuckles and goes again. He gets Pyrrha and the phrase "Boomerang!" has him drawing the Buster Sword. He chucks it at a dummy and when it reached its farthest distance, it came flying back to Zack, who easily caught it by the handle.

"Impressive! Now that's an interesting take on my Semblance.." Pyrrha mused, knowing it was her.

"It really is!" Zack says, flashing a grin to Pyrrha. Third time it was Jaune and "I'll Be Your Shield!" appeared, causing Zack's zaffre Aura to pulse out and touch everyone's Aura, causing EVERYONE to focus solely on him. Zack blinks. "Huh, so it acts as an invisible taunt..." His Aura fades.

"That was so weird, everyone was focused more on you than anything else," Aerith stated thoughtfully.

"Now for Blake's connection!" Ruby says cheerfully.

"Yo, before that happens, the training room is about to close down for maintenance. Instead of all twelve of us being here and causing a bit of a ruckus, why don't we leave and go chill in the ZARC dorm while Zack and Aerith finish up?" Reno says, using the distraction plan that he and Blake came up with. He wasn't completely wrong.. They had another half hour but no one needed to know that.

"Oh yeah, they have to do that every now and then, just to make sure students don't tear up the room," Pyrrha says. And with that, the distraction was set. Everyone minus Zack and Aerith left. Blake was the last to leave and she gave Zack a thankful look before scurrying out. Once the cat-Faunus was out of the room, Zack activated his final connection, "Unleash the Beast." The Buster Sword went back onto the magnetic holster and he feels his inner wolf take over. Zack launches himself at the dummy, his attacks powerful but erratic, but Zack suffered some Aura damage. Aerith was honestly a little scared of this connection but kept filming. When Zack finished, he looked dazed. Shaking the mane of spikes, he looks over at his girlfriend.

"Babe? You alright? You look like you just saw a Grimm..." Zack says, concern shining in his eyes and in his voice. Aerith snapped out of it.

"Uh yeah. That was just really scary. Definitely don't use that one on people.. You were just so.. feral.." Aerith says. Zack was really glad that no else was there to see it. He immediately wrapped Aerith up in a loving and gently hug.

"I won't. I'll only use that one if it means saving us from death. And you'll never have to worry about that turning onto you," Zack says, stroking Aerith's hair soothingly. He presses a gentle kiss to Aerith's forehead, waiting for his flower girl to calm down.

"Thank you," Aerith says, getting a small kiss from Zack. The two then walk out of the training room, Zack's arm around Aerith's waist, and Aerith's head on Zack's shoulder, and head back to their dorm.


	12. Forever Fall and Fluff

Soon enough, Team ZARC was completely settled into their new life in Remnant. They had been in Remnant for over a month, almost two months now. All thoughts of the issues on Gaia were basically gone from their minds as they thought about their new friends and about the threat of the Grimm. Zack and Aerith had watched their two friends fall in love with two of the lovely ladies that were their friends. Cloud did his best to ignore Reno's and Zack's teasing about his ever growing, and slightly obvious, crush on Pyrrha while Reno did his best to hide his crush on Ruby as to not receive the same fate. Both single members were grateful and not so grateful that Glynda wasn't mixing the teams up and forcing them to separate on the field trip they were going on. The two were grateful as it meant they were safe from Zack's teasing had Reno been paired up with Ruby and Cloud with Pyrrha. They were also not as grateful as they could have been however as they wouldn't get to spend time with the two girls. The field trip Team ZARC and their fellow teams were going on was to Forever Fall to collect Red Sap for Professor Peach. Aerith looks out the bulkhead window and gasps.

"Wow! It's so beautiful!" Aerith says, her emerald eyes wide with wonder. Zack looks over.

"And to think it stays like that all year round.." Zack murmurs.

"Reminds me of Pyrrha's hair," Cloud muttered to himself. Unfortunately for him, Reno heard.

"Maybe you should ask her out then! 'Oh Pyrrha! I can't keep my mind off of you as this forest reminds me of you! Please go out with me!'" Reno says in his best impression of Cloud. The spiky blonde scowls and smacks Reno in the back of the head. The ex-Turk huffed as he rubs the back of his head.

"Maybe I will when you stop teasing your little shortstack and actually confess to her!" Cloud shot back. Reno huffed again.

"Guys, knock it off. Let's just enjoy this time in the forest and collect the sap," Aerith says, putting herself between the two.

"Yes mom," Cloud and Reno say synchronously, small grins on their faces showing that they were only playing around. Aerith just shakes her head, hiding a smile and chuckle at the two. Reno then squints as if trying to see something better.

"Wait, if we call Aerith mom, does that make Zack dad, yo?" Reno asks. Zack nearly choked hearing Reno.

"What in Oum's name are you on Reno?" Zack questions, some of Remnant's slang slipping into his words.

"Well, Aerith basically acts as the mom of group and since you're dating her.. that would make you dad," Reno grins.

"I mean you two are basically already married anyways," Cloud points, causing the couple in question to blush. A cheeky grin then appears on the spiky blonde's face. "I propose we start calling them mom and dad."

"What a wonderful idea Chocobo!" Reno smirks, a mischievous glint flashing through his celestine eyes. Zack groans.

"I hate you two sometimes," the wolf-Faunus grumbles. Aerith couldn't help but giggle. Zack looks at Aerith accusingly. "Don't encourage them!"

"Too late dad!" Reno says, grinning widely. Cloud snickers into his hand as Zack just hangs in his head in defeat, wolf ears drooping a bit. Ruby had heard the commotion and had walked over to see what was getting Team ZARC all riled up.

"Umm.. What's going on?" Ruby asks when seeing a defeated looking Zack, a giggling Aerith, a cheeky Reno and a grinning Cloud.

"We're tormenting Zack by calling him dad," Reno says, looking at the young leader. Ruby tilts her head in a cute way, causing Reno to look away to hide the faint blush forming on his cheeks.

"Why?" Ruby asks curiously.

"Well according to Reno and Cloud I act like the mother," Aerith says. Ruby makes the connection.

"Ooooooohhhh," Ruby says. "I'd join in too but that would be weird if I did that if my actual dad came to visit.."

"Who we calling dad?" came another louder and peppier voice. It was Yang.

"Zack," Cloud answers. Yang smirks.

"Hi dad!" Yang grins. Zack just puts his face into his hands.

"I don't even act like a dad! I don't even have any dad jokes!" Zack complains. Aerith bursts into another fit of giggles. She was fine with being called mom as she found it endearing. Zack's reactions were what made her laugh. ZRC and RY all smile hearing Aerith giggle. Zack, momentarily forgetting about the whole dad thing, grins mischievously and goes over to his giggling girlfriend and starts tickling her sides, causing more laughter.

"Zaaack! Stop!" Aerith laughs, trying to push away the ex-1st Class SOLDIER's hands. Zack just grins even wider and continues his assault on her sides. The laughter had caught the attention of WB and JNPR and more smiles had appeared. Yang looks at Reno.

"Yup. Definitely going to call them mom and dad now," Yang says\s. Reno grins.

"Not gonna stop! You gotta make me Flower Girl~" Zack says, still tickling Aerith. Aerith was having difficulties trying to back away from how hard she was laughing. Zack's tail was wagging slightly and his ears were perked up. Seeing the wolf ears, Aerith gets an idea and manages to reach a hand past the raven spikes and scratches behind an ear. Zack instantly stops tickling Aerith and subconsciously leans into Aerith's touch, his MAKO blue eyes closing shut. His tail kept wagging happily. Aerith smiles as her planned worked and she regains her breath.

"AWWWW! THAT'S SO CUUUUTE!" Ruby squeals rather loudly, hugging onto Reno's arm thinking it was Yang's. Yang just gives her baby sister a smirk while Reno keeps his cool. Zack's tail stopped and his eyes snap open upon hearing Ruby.

"I need to stop doing that.." Zack says, his face light pink as he straightens, taking Aerith's hand into his. However, before anymore teasing could ensue, the bulkhead had finally arrived at their destination and Glynda took everyone outside. All of the teams look and listen to Glynda explain what exactly they were doing and how to do it. She then sent the teams on their way to go collect the sap, noticing that ZARC, RWBY and JNPR were all heading out together and she actually smiled. It made her happy to see the three teams bonding and she was also happy to see that ZARC was settling in quite well. Knowing that the three teams would be fine, she walks off to go keep an eye on the more troublesome teams.

ZARC, RWBY and JNPR were chatting happily among themselves as they looked for a clearing that had enough healthy trees. They wanted a clearing so they could be on the outlook for any Grimm and more space to move about. Zack was leading the way, his heightened sense of smell allowing him to easily sniff out the healthy trees. Of course Blake could do this too but she hadn't revealed that she was a Faunus yet.

"Aha! Here we go! This is perfect!" Zack says, fists on his hips as he brings the teams to a clearing that had enough healthy trees.

"Nice work dad," Cloud pipes up from the back. A few giggles rippled through as Zack sighs.

"Alright! Let's get to work!" Ruby says, a murmur of agreement coming out of everyone. The 12 split into pairs, just going with their initiation partner to make things easier on everyone. Each pair was able to get the needed sap, except for one pair - Ren and Nora. Ren was starting to get exasperated with Nora draining all of the sap.

"Nora! Please, let me fill the jars!" Ren pleads.

"But Reeeeennn the sap taste so good!" Nora whined. Reno and Cloud had finished just a few moments and saw that Ren was struggling. Reno gets an idea and he walks over.

"Hey Nora, ZRVY needs to have an impromptu emergency meeting," Reno says to the overly energetic girl. Nora jumps up.

"Oooooo about what?" Nora asks, her curiosity peaked. She follows Reno to get Yang and Zack. Cloud goes over to Ren, making sure to bring the jars he and Reno had filled with them. With Cloud's help, Ren was able to fill up the jars that he and Nora were supposed to be filling. Reno gets Zack and Yang when the pairs had finished their sap filling.

"Alright, what's this awesome meeting about?" Yang asks, looking at the redhead.

"We need to formulate a plan to get Cloud to confess to Pyrrha," Reno says.

"Ooooo why don't we lock them in a room with mistletoe?" Nora says.

"Something tells me that they would find a way out," Zack says.

"Then we threaten to break their legs!" Nora says.

"No Nora. We're not breaking anyone's legs," Reno says, causing the hammer-wielder to pout.

"And nothing too outrageous or embarrassing," Zack points out, this time causing the busty brawler to pout.

"Damn. But it can't be something cliche where everyone slowly trickles out to leave them alone," Yang says. ZRVY thinks long and hard in trying to come up with a creative yet not embarrassing way to get Cloud and Pyrrha together.

"Oum, this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be," Nora whines. Yang's face lights up as she gets an idea, a few moments later.

"I got it!" the blonde says.

"You do? What do you got?" Zack asks, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

"Sparring! Take like a nice Saturday or something to have everyone practice against each other to help each other out. However, we do it in pairs and mix the pairs up so no two people are on the same time!" Yang says. Reno catches on.

"And we put Cloud and Pyrrha as a pair," Reno says, grinning widely. Yang nods.

"Genius idea! I assume we want them to win so that Cloud gets a confidence boost?" Zack asks, getting another nod.

"Then pair them against Jaune and Weiss! Pyrrha knows how Jaune fights and Weiss is a glass cannon," Nora says. "But just because Jaune is weak, that won't mean he'll make it easy for them."

"Good cause an easy win wouldn't work," Zack says.

"We might as well figure out all the other pairs and who they're fighting," Yang says, the other three nodding in agreement. The pairings that they agreed on were Zack and Ren, Aerith and Yang, Nora and Blake and finally Ruby and Reno. Reno couldn't help but glare at both Zack and Yang, knowing what they were up to. They then decided on having the matches be Jaune and Weiss VS Cloud and Pyrrha, Zack and Ren VS Ruby and Reno and then Aerith and Yang VS Nora and Blake. When ZRVY had finished all of their planning the other eight people came over, everyone making sure to separate the jars from Nora so that she wouldn't eat their contents. Since they all had some time before Glynda would gather them all again, everyone chats about various things, just shooting the shit and enjoying their time together. When Zack, Jaune and Ruby get a call from Glynda telling them to head back to where the bulkhead was, Zack leads the way back, carrying the extra jar, playing keep away from Nora. Cloud had the other jar so that Ren could keep Nora on an invisible leash. Upon arrival at the bulkhead, all of them noticed an annoyed Glynda and a beat up Team CRDL. This made all three teams smirk lightly.

"What happened to them Professor?" Aerith asks curiously. Glynda looks over.

"They got the Red Sap all over them and attracted a large horde of Grimm. They were lucky I got there when I did as they might not be alive other wise," Glynda says. Her sharp green gaze turns to Team CRDL and she reprimands them again for being so foolish. When all of the teams returned, Glynda herds them all onto the bulkhead, and instructs everyone where to put the jars of sap. ZARC, RWBY and JNPR head back to where they were at the beginning of the trip and settle down for the ride, Yang and Nora mentioning the sparring idea to everyone who thought it was a good idea. They all agreed to do it Saturday, Jaune being the only one reluctant to agree to no one's surprise.


	13. Sparring!

It was Saturday. Teams RWBY, JNPR and ZARC all heading down to the training room they used when testing Zack's Semblance. All twelve members were dressed in their combat clothes and had their weapons on them, those with a gun making sure that their magazines were full. Pyrrha proposed that they all warmed up before starting the fights as to limit the amount of injuries they would receive. A few people were surprised to see how flexible Jaune was and kept that lodged into the back of their mind, in case they were put up against Jaune or paired with him. No one was surprised to see Zack do his squats as he has been dubbed the Squat King. After a good twenty minute warm-up, everyone gathers around Yang and Nora since the two had suggested the idea.

"Alright! Let's start this off with a Yang! And Aerith!" Yang grins, using her usual pun, getting mostly groans.

"Dammit Yang! Must you always use that one?" Ruby shouts.

"But of course sweet little sister of mine! And to name off the next pair, it's you and Reno!" Yang grins. Ruby tried her best to not blush.

"Next we have Jaune and Weiss!" Nora announces. "And going against Jaune and Weiss is Cloud and Pyrrha!"

"Weiss, we might be screwed," Jaune says. "I'll still try though!"

"I know you will Jaune. But I do think we can win," Weiss says, attempting to give herself some confidence.

"Then we'll have Zack and Ren against Ruby and Reno," Yang announces.

"Which means that myself and Blake are against Yang and Aerith!" Nora says happily. "So let's get started! And break some legs!"

"We're starting in five minutes!" Yang says. All of the pairs took those five minutes to formulate a basic plan. Everyone had a basic gist of how everyone fought but of course those on the same team knew the best. When the five minutes are up, Cloud, Pyrrha, Weiss and Jaune all got onto the raised platform they would be using as an arena. Everyone else took their seats, Zack being the one to call this match. He gives the signal to begin once the four fighters' Aura levels were on display.

As planned, Cloud draws his sword and immediately charges at Jaune. Jaune decides to take the offensive for once and he runs headlong towards Cloud, the shield raised in front of him. As Cloud brings his broadsword down on Jaune's shield, he felt ice form around his feet. He quickly glanced down to see Weiss's ice glyph disappear from his feet. He scowls but keeps pressing his sword down on Jaune to not let the smaller blonde attack. Pyrrha had hung back until that moment since she and Cloud decided to use Cloud as distraction. She then quickly makes her way towards Weiss, shield in front and javelin pointed at the white themed girl. Pyrrha swipes with Miló at Weiss's unprotected abdomen, causing Weiss to just barely back up.

While Weiss and Pyrrha start trading blows and parrying, Jaune knew he needed to get out of the lock he was in. Pushing with all his might against Cloud's immense strength and to the left, Jaune manages to get out from under Cloud, throwing the spiky blonde off balance. Seeing an opening Jaune goes to slash at Cloud's abdomen, only for Pyrrha's shield to block it. He glanced over and saw that Pyrrha was in a lock with Weiss's Myrtenaster. Ignoring Cloud, Jaune swiftly swipes in to break the lock to give Weiss an opening. Weiss took that opening and uses one of her glyphs to send Pyrrha flying backwards. Pyrrha slams Miló into the stage, piercing it and uses her Semblance to keep herself from flying out of the ring. Jaune advanced on Pyrrha.

Cloud saw that the focus was on Pyrrha and that Akoúo̱ was in arm's reach. Nabbing it quickly, he uses the shield to bash away the ice from his feet. He put the shield on his magnetic holster for the moment before charging Weiss who was using her glyphs again to barrage Pyrrha with elemental attacks. He first rams into Weiss with his shoulder, causing the heiress to be knocked off balance, sending fire at Jaune instead. Before Weiss could recover, Cloud slashes heavily at Weiss, going from her left shoulder to her right hip and following up with a horizontal slash. Weiss tried to land a hit in after the two hit combo, but only managed to poke him. Cloud continues his onslaught, pushing Weiss towards the edge. Weiss could only block and parry. Once close enough to the edge, Cloud puts himself into a sword lock with Weiss.

Pyrrha sees Jaune get thrown off balance. She quickly summons Akoúo̱ off of Cloud's back and starts her own barrage of attacks upon Jaune. She gives a slightly apologetic smile to her team leader as she lands multiple strikes upon him. The redhead was happy when Jaune managed to block and parry a few blows, showing his increase in skill. Stepping away from one of Jaune's own attacks, Pyrrha attaches Akoúo̱ to her back and pulls a page out of Zack's book. She grabs his wrist and by using both her own strength and her Semblance, Pyrrha tosses Jaune out of the ring into a padded wall, just as Cloud kicks Weiss out of the ring.

"AND WE HAVE A WINNER! CLOUD AND PYRRHA!" Zack shouts. Cloud and Pyrrha smile at one another before helping their opponents up. Weiss and Jaune go grab a seat, both a little tired. Cloud and Pyrrha simply walk off stage, the blonde pulling the redhead aside for some privacy. ZRVY's plan of giving Cloud a confidence boost worked as Cloud was determined to FINALLY ask Pyrrha out. Pyrrha had to admit, she was curious about what Cloud wanted to talk about and why now when Zack and Reno VS Reno and Ruby was about to start.

"So what did you want to talk to me about Cloud?" Pyrrha asks, her emerald green eyes locking with Cloud's MAKO blue ones.

"Well, since we've become really good friends these past two months, I was wondering if you'd like to go out on a date with me?" Cloud says, not letting his confidence waver. Pyrrha was surprised but smiled.

"Oh Cloud! I thought you would never ask! I would love to!" Pyrrha beams happily. She then hugs Cloud tightly, and Cloud happily returns the hug.

"When do you want our first to be then?" Cloud asks. Pyrrha thinks.

"Friday night?" Pyrrha suggests. Cloud nods.

"Friday night it is!" Cloud says. He pecks Pyrrha's cheek before heading back inside, holding Pyrrha's hand. The two sit next to each other, both significantly happier. Nora and Yang noticed and smirk at each other, glad that their plan worked out.

The stage was in absolute chaos when Cloud and Pyrrha returned. Three out of the four combatants were very excited for the match. Zack and Ruby were fighting each other, trading blows with buster sword and scythe alike while Reno and Ren were firing shots off at each other across the stage. Reno was having a hard time directing Ren's bullets so he stuck with evading them and instead stuck with redirecting his own. Reno ducked when the buster sword went flying overhead. Fortunately Pyrrha was able to stop it and keep it in the ring.

"Watch it Ruby!" Reno calls out.

"Sorry!" Ruby called back, continuing her onslaught on the wolf-Faunus. Zack rolled out of the scythe's range and activates his Semblance, "Joy Buzzer Extreme!" flashing in his mind. When Crescent Rose came swinging at him again, Zack clapped the blade between his hands, surprisingly being pushed back as he held on. Since Crescent Rose was metal, the electricity easily traveled through the metal and electrocuted Ruby, stunning her. Reno saw this but he couldn't assist Ruby since Ren had closed the gap and was attacking him with the sickle-like blades slashing him. Reno scowled and tried to hit Ren with his EMR. Accidentally overreaching, Reno gets hit with a barrage of attacks, getting his EMR dislodged out of his hands. Ren saw the opportunity and pushes Reno towards the edge of the ring, away from his EMR.

When Ruby had been electrocuted by Zack's attack, she was momentarily stunned. A weird vibrating noise emitted from her, something similar to that of teeth clacking together. She snaps out of this when Zack knocked the wind out of her momentarily. Her silver eyes spot Zack retrieving his buster sword and Reno being pushed towards the edge. She quickly fires a shot in attempt to help Reno but it was too late for Reno as he was knocked onto his ass by Ren. However, she did manage to send Ren flying by getting a direct hit on his back with her sniper.

"Good job shortstack! Knock Zack out! I believe in you!" Reno called out when he stood again. He smiled when seeing determination shining in Ruby's silver eyes. The ex-Turk watches as Zack and Ruby exchange blows, both of them grinning like madmen. His celestine eyes flicker to the Aura levels. Both were in the orange. Reno blinked upon not being able to see Zack and knew the wolf-Faunus had activated his Semblance AGAIN. Ruby wasn't sure how she lost sight Zack long enough to disappear but she snapped back into focus when she got a punch to the face, sending her into the red. However, Crescent Rose had flailed up and whacked Zack at the same time, sending him into the red as well.

"AND WE HAVE A TIE! What a funny way to have a fight like that end!" Yang announces. Zack was rubbing his head but he just grins at Ruby, ruffling her hair before going down to sit down to watch the final fight. Ruby huffed playfully before skipping over to Reno.

"How'd I do?" She asks Reno excitedly.

"You did really great. Just like I thought you would shortstack," Reno says with a smile. Ruby beams at Reno before latching onto his torso in a hug.

"We make such an awesome duo! I bet with enough cross-team practice we could become unstoppable!" Ruby says with stars in her eyes. Reno laughs and pats Ruby on the head.

"Maybe shortstack. I think we have the potential," he says, one hand on Ruby's head, the other pushing up his goggles. He was about to speak when Ruby had released him. She was pressing her fingers together which Reno knew what a sign of nerves.

"Um... Reno... I have a question to ask you.. I just hope it won't ruin our friendship.." the young leader of Team RWBY starts.

"Go ahead and ask then Ruby," Reno says, using her actual name since he could it was something serious. Ruby takes a deep breath.

"So um, I really really like you Reno and I was uh wondering ifyou'dbemyboyfriend?" Ruby rushes towards the end. Fortunately for both Ruby and Reno, the redheaded male could understand fast talk. He was honestly shocked that Ruby was the one to ask as he figured he would have to. A slight chuckle emits from Reno.

"Funny you should ask. I was planning to ask you out later myself. But yeah, I'll be your boyfriend," Reno says with a genuine smile. A happy squeal emitted from Ruby, who almost knocks Reno down with a hug. Reno laughed and hugged back. Just to be cheeky, Reno then scoops Ruby up bridal style and walks over to some seats to sit down. Ruby held onto Reno, blushing lightly.

This time the stage was quite drastic on either side. On the audience's left was Yang's and Nora's explosive battle while on the right was the quieter but just as intense fight between Aerith and Blake. Nora was laughing like crazy as she swung her hammer at Yang, not caring that Yang would be powering up by taking the hits. Yang was purposely going for Nora's legs just because her opponent had a thing for breaking legs. Upon activating her Semblance, Yang delivers a powerful punch to Nora's leg causing the other girl to fall flat on her face.

"Uh-oh," Nora says as she falls, Magnhild coming out of her grip. She tried to grab it but Yang had grabbed her ankles. Knowing she had quickly lost, she enjoys the ride of Yang sending her flying out of the ring. "Weeeeeee!" she says, causing some people to face-palm.

"Oh Nora..." came Ren's grumble before he goes over to his partner. Yang soon joins Aerith in trying to take out Blake. Yang fires her shotguns, making sure not to hit Aerith. Blake dodges out of Yang's shots, trying to get the busty blonde to accidentally hit Aerith. Aerith could see what the cat-Faunus was trying to do so she backed up. Noticing that Yang's Aura level was much lower than hers, Aerith sacrifices some of her Aura, activating Great Gospel. A healing rain showers Yang, bringing Yang's Aura from dark orange to light green. Blake scowled decides to go on the offensive. She charges Aerith, leaving a copy for Aerith's stave to pierce and slashes at the brunette. Blake barely dodges a fist from Yang and fire a few shots in retaliation. Both Aerith and Yang attack Blake, Aerith swiping Blake's feet out from under her and Yang landing a heavy punch to the ravenette's stomach. Blake grunted as the air was knocked out of her, her Aura hitting dark orange.

"Why Aerith, you can have the final blow!" Yang says, gesturing to Blake's form on the ground.

"Sorry Blake!" Aerith says before using the butt of her stave to hit Blake in the temple, knocking the cat-Faunus into the red... and with a killer headache.

"AERITH AND YANG ARE OUR WINNERS!" Zack calls out. He leaps into the ring and envelopes Aerith in a bear hug, twirling her. "That's my flower girl!" he praises. Yang helps Blake up off the ground. She looks at Zack, hands on her hips.

"Where's my hug dad?" Yang smirks. Zack hangs his head as everyone laughs. Little did the three teams know, their sparring session had been watched by a dusty old crow that had been sitting in the window.


	14. A Dusty Old Crow

Qrow had returned from a long mission that Ozpin had sent him on. As he was making his way to the dorms, he noticed his nieces heading out of the dorms with what he assumed were their teammates and friends. Being in his crow form, he flew above the group of 12, spotting the four Ozpin had told him about. He then followed the group towards the training rooms and flew to the windows, trying to see which room they had gone into. Qrow quickly found it and settled himself on the window sill and decided to watch the sparring matches. The most interesting match to him was the one Ruby was in. He could tell that the redhead, whose name he couldn't remember, had some sort of affect on Ruby and saw that it was a positive one, much to his relief. When the match had ended, Qrow couldn't help but chuckle as it was rather comical to him - Ruby accidentally flailing Crescent Rose as she got punched. Even though the Huntsman wanted to watch Yang's fight, his beady little crow eyes had caught Ruby's actions towards the redheaded male. Despite not being able to hear the two, Qrow knew something serious was happening as he caught Ruby's nervous tick. Qrow then assumed, based on how Ruby had practically launched herself at said redhead and how the male had scooped up Ruby, that his niece had asked her temporary partner out and he had said yes.

'Tai's not going to be happy about that... That's for sure,' Qrow thought to himself before turning his attention to his other niece and her match. He shook his head at Yang literally just throwing her opponent out of the arena. When the final match had ended, Qrow took off and flew to the entrance of the building. He lands and leans against the wall near the door.

"OHMAIGAWSH IT'S UNCLE QROW!" Ruby squealed upon exiting the training rooms and spotting her uncle. Leaving Reno's side, she dashes over to Qrow and hugs him tightly. Yang laughs at her sister's excitement and looks at Reno. Said ex-Turk had a slightly bad feeling about Qrow.

"Hey squirt. How ya doing?" Qrow asks, chuckling as he patted Ruby's head before giving her hug.

"I'm doing amazing! Ooo! Lemme introduce you to the friends Yang and I have made!" Ruby says excitedly. At this point the rest of the teens that had spared had walked over to where Qrow and Ruby were. The tiny team leader introduces her teammates and friends to her uncle. Yang throws her arms around Zack's and Aerith's shoulders, grinning cheekily.

"And we like to call these two Mom and Dad!" Yang grins. Aerith giggles and waves.

"I'm never gonna get out of that nickname, am I?" Zack groans, face in his hands.

"'Fraid not. Yang doesn't drop nicknames that easily," Qrow says with a light chuckle. He watches as Ruby goes back to Reno's side, leaning into him. Reno, out of instinct, gently drapes an arm around Ruby's shoulder. "So, you're dating my niece?"

"Yessir," Reno says, not letting Qrow intimidate him. He locks eyes with Qrow, waiting for a response. Qrow looks over Reno and then looks at Ruby. He looks back at Reno.

"Just a warning kid, you hurt Ruby, not only will you have to deal with Yang, you'll have to deal with me and her father. Trust me, you won't want to deal with Tai," Qrow warns.

"Wouldn't even dream of it," Reno says, "Not to mention my own team would collectively kick my ass seven different ways to Sunday." He knew that Qrow was giving him the warning as one, Qrow was obviously the protective uncle and two, Reno knew that he came off as a bit of punk. Normally he wouldn't be one for an actual relationship but this was different. Ruby was different and he always knew that if he ever ended up in a relationship, he was going to be loyal as all hell.

"Good," Qrow says, nodding. He was wary of Reno at first but seeing that he wasn't backing down, and how protective he was of Ruby, the Huntsman decided that Reno wouldn't need a good scaring. Ruby was just relieved that Qrow didn't want to beat Reno up.

"So what brings you here Uncle Qrow?" Yang asks, having released Zack and Aerith and walking over to her uncle. The two share a fist bump as was their usual greeting.

"Well, I just finished a mission for Oz and figured I'd stop by to see my nieces and meet their friends before going to a boring report mission," Qrow answered.

"Would you like to join us for lunch sir?" Aerith asks politely, just a few moments before Pyrrha would have asked.

"It would be nice to get to know some of Ruby's and Yang's family," Pyrrha added in.

"No need for the whole 'sir' stuff. Makes me feel older than I already am," Qrow says, wrinkling his nose a tad. "Just call me Qrow."

"Alright. So, losers buy lunch?" Yang asks mischievously.

"Losers?" Qrow asks, playing dumb.

"Oh yeah, we just did some sparring matches! We mixed up the teams so partners were of different teams. Reno and I tied with Zack and Ren. That was because just as Zack punched my Aura into the red, Crescent Rose smacked him in the face causing his Aura to be in the red," Ruby says. Qrow snorts. That was a sight that wasn't leaving his mind's eye any time soon.

"Jaune and I lost to Cloud and Pyrrha," Weiss says, a tad unhappy about that but then again it was Pyrrha! The only known person to beat Pyrrha was Zack.

"And the other set of losers?" Qrow asks, looking at Yang.

"That would be me and Blake! And I know the perfect place to go!" Nora says, heading off.

"How does she always know where to go...?" Cloud asks, mentally sweat dropping.

"Nora loves food. That's all you need to know," Ren answers. The group of now 13 head off with Nora leading the way to their lunch destination. The place Nora had picked was a snazzy little cafe that was faunus friendly. The menu consisted mostly of sandwiches. As the 12 teenagers and one Huntsman ate their lunch, questions and answers were shot around the table. Ruby was talking to most, telling awesome tales about Qrow who couldn't help but smile at the admiration his youngest niece had for him. When the bill came, Weiss, Jaune, Nora and Blake paid for the other eight as Qrow said he would pay for himself. The 13 exit and Ruby and Yang hug their uncle, knowing he had to go talk with Ozpin.

"Before I go talk to Oz, I'd like to speak with Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud for a few moments," Qrow says. It was obvious that this was a private conversation between those five. Teams RWBY and JNPR head back to the dorms to wait for Team ZARC, curious about why Qrow would want to talk with them.

"I assume this has to do with us not being from Remnant?" Cloud asks once the other two teams weren't in hearing range.

"Yeah. In fact, I need you four to either come with me to Oz or just confirm some things here and now," Qrow says, looking at the four of them.

"Well, we can try to confirm it here. If we can't do that quickly then we'll come with you, yo," Reno says, hands in his pockets.

"Alright. What do you know about three males, who are probably triplets, with silver hair and acid green eyes? Also with a bad taste for leather and mommy fetish?" Qrow asks, arms crossed over his chest. Zack's and Reno's faces pale at hearing that. Aerith looks worried and Cloud's face darkens.

"Let's go to Ozpin. This needs to be heard by all who know the truth behind our pasts," Zack says, looking at Qrow. With a nod, Qrow heads off towards Ozpin's office with Team ZARC. As they made their way there, Aerith grabs Zack's hand in attempts to help calm the wolf faunus down. Qrow also messaged Ozpin to call in Ironwood and then messaged Glynda himself. Glynda joins them in the elevator. After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator finally got to Ozpin's office and when the group of six entered, Ironwood was already on call in his office.

"I assume these four students not from Remnant, Ozpin?" Ironwood asks, looking at the grey haired headmaster.

"Yes. James, meet Zack Fair, Aerith Gainsborough, Reno Sinclair and Cloud Strife of Team ZARC. Team ZARC, meet General James Ironwood of Atlas and Headmaster of Atlas Academy," Ozpin says.

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir," Aerith says with a smile. The boys voice the same statements.

"Nice to meet you as well. So, Qrow. What seems to be the issue and why have you brought them?" Ironwood says.

"Well, Salem is indeed stirring. I don't know what exactly she's planning but we need to be on the outlook during the Vytal festival. Also, I believe she got help from whatever world those four are from as they reacted negatively to the description of the three I gave them," Qrow says.

"Before they explain why they seem to know these three particular people?" Glynda asks, a frown creasing on her lips.

"I believe they are triplets. They all have silver hair, acid green eyes, have a tacky amount of leather on and are obsessed about their mother," Qrow says. Zack and Reno knew this had something to do with Sephiroth and they looked at each other.

"Well, we don't know those three in particular but it sounds like it has to do with the reason we were sent here. The man who killed us, Sephiroth, has that exact description but there was only him," Zack starts out.

"The whole mother thing has to do with this weird alien named Jenova. Basically, she's trying to destroy Gaia, our original world. If these guys look like Sephiroth that means Sephiroth is dead, yo," Reno adds on.

"That would mean that Sephiroth is in the Lifestream but somehow had his will formed into physical manifestations.. Which is possible.." Aerith says, frowning heavily.

"What's the Lifestream again?" Ironwood asks.

"It's what gives Gaia life. All are born from the Lifestream and all will return to it," Aerith explains.

"I bet Jenova told Sephiroth to sacrifice himself and to send his will to another world," Cloud says.

"But why would Jenova do that? And why here? Sephiroth already killed us," Zack points out.

"I don't think we're going to be able to figure that out until we confront those Sephiroth lookalikes, yo," Reno says. The office goes silent as everyone takes time to digest the information that Qrow and Team ZARC revealed. Ozpin looks at Team ZARC.

"How would you four like to join our inner circle?"


	15. Magic At Its Finest

"Ozpin! You can't expect to bring these children into the circle!" Ironwood says, reacting to Ozpin's question first. This had the three males of Team ZARC annoyed.

"Hey asshole, we weren't kids before we came here yo," Reno says, the irritation clear in his voice.

"Also! Zack and I were literal soldiers and have been in wars!" Cloud adds on, scowling at the General.

"Not to mention, it is not your choice to dictate what we can and cannot do. If we'd like to join, we will," Aerith says, her hands on her hips. Her voice was not full of irritation but disappointment. Ironwood had the decency to look partially ashamed with his outburst.

"Getting put in your place by a so called kid," Qrow snickers, ignoring the glare that both Glynda an Ironwood sent him.

"Excusing Ironwood's outburst.. What are your thoughts?" Ozpin asks, amusement shining in his brown eyes. He watches as Team ZARC converses among themselves to decide on what they should do. After about five minutes, Zack steps forwards since he's the team leader.

"We have decided that we will join your inner circle. Any and all secrets will not leave our lips except to those of these circles," Zack proclaims, hands on hips and a grin on his face.

"Very good now-" Ozpin starts out, only to be interrupt by Qrow.

"Hold on Oz. One thing before we discuss things further," Qrow interrupts. He walks so that he is in front of Reno and stares the redhead down. "Since you're dating my lovely niece, you aren't going to let Ruby know any of this. Even though she can take care of herself, you are going to keep her safe from anything that happens with group, got it?"

"Got it. Don't want shortstack getting hurt because of something she's not involved with. Buuut knowing her and our friends, she might just figure it out all on her own somehow," Reno says. Satisfied with Reno's commitment in keeping Ruby safe, Qrow nods and allows Oz to continue.

"Now that you are apart of our circle. There are somethings we must tell you before we explain what it is that we do precisely. I assume you believe in magic?" Ozpin asks.

"Well, we kinda sorta have to, since the Lifestream brought us here," Cloud says.

"Then we shall start with a fairy tale told to the kids on this world," Ozpin says. Glynda summons chairs for people since the story of the Maidens and the Wizard would be a long one. Once everyone was situated, Oz begins the tale of the Maidens and the Wizard.

 **~ After the meeting with the inner circle ~**

Team ZARC was quiet as they headed back to their dorm. After finding out about EVERYTHING that was going on in the shadows of Remnant made the team worry even more knowing that three Remnants of Sephiroth, as they had dubbed the trio, were on Remnant. Aerith was thinking the most about the Fall Maiden - Amber. She might be able to heal the damage that had been done to her if her attacker was found. As they got closer to the dorms, the four knew they had to wipe all worry away as to keep the information they just learned a secret from Teams RWBY & JNPR. Of course, Ruby almost IMMEDIATELY tackled Reno once they were in the hallway where their dorms were situated.

"Are you guys alright? Did you get in trouble with Ozpin? What did he want from you guys?" Ruby asks, her voice full of worry. Her arms were tight around Reno's midsection. Reno chuckles, ruffling Ruby's hair affectionately.

"No need to worry shortstack. Just wanted to ask some questions about some weirdo guys who came from our homeland," Reno says. It.. wasn't a lie but it wasn't the whole truth.

"Are they here to hurt you guys or something?" Pyrrha asks. She had more calmly gone over to Cloud and hugged his arm.

"Probably. But, we can handle them if they get close to us, so no worries," Cloud says, wanting to reassure Pyrrha that it wasn't too dangerous.

"Aaaannnddd Reno got a bit more of a mouthful from Qrow," Zack grins. Reno just rolls his eyes at his friend.

"Shaddup Zack or I'll shave your tail," Reno says. Zack gasps.

"You wouldn't dare!" Zack says, hand on his chest. Reno smirks.

"Oh I would, yo."

"You couldn't even catch me if you tried!"

"Alright boys, that's enough," Aerith giggles. She could tell that the two were trying to lighten up the mood and it was surprisingly working. Reno and Zack stick their tongues out at each other as Zack hugs Aerith from behind.

"You two are a handful," Weiss sniffs.

"Oh come on Weiss Queen! You just gotta melt that Weissy heart of yours!" Yang grins.

"YANG!" Ruby shouts.

"Mom! Dad! Yang's making terrible puns again!" Cloud pipes up. Zack groaned a bit while Aerith giggles.

"But now that we still have most of the afternoon and the evening left to spend, how do we want to spend it?" Ren asks, deciding to save some people from their torment.

"Maybe just some movies? We did have quite the excitable morning and I'm sure Team ZARC would like to relax," Blake suggests. Everyone either nods or voices their agreement.

"Well, why don't we all get into comfy clothes and then setup everything in Team ZARC's room?" Jaune suggests. Once more, everyone nods or voices their agreement. Everyone then goes to their room and changes into their pajamas. Afterwards, Zack and Cloud followed Pyrrha into Team JNPR's room to grab a couch to bring into the room so everyone could be seated properly. Zack and Aerith sat on their pushed together bed, Aerith snuggling into Zack's chest happily. Cloud and Pyrrha cuddle on Cloud's bed. Ruby had zipped over to her dorm and snagged a bunch of pillows from there and with Reno's pillow and blankets, made a comfy pillow bed on the floor to share. On one couch, Yang sat between Blake and Weiss. The cat faunus had surprisingly been closer to Yang than the arm rest. On the other, Jaune sat on the end closer to Weiss while Ren sat in the middle as Nora had claimed the other end of the couch.

"Alright! What movie do we wanna watch? I suggest a horror!" Nora says, grinning widely.

"Maybe not a horror.. Horror doesn't sit well with me," Aerith pipes up.

"No horror! Mom doesn't like horror so no horror!" Yang says. Nora gasps.

"Of course no horror! We can't upset Mom!" Nora says, hands on her face.

"Why not a romcom?" Weiss suggests. Both Reno and Ruby made a face at that. Cloud snorts at their matching faces.

"Nope!" "Hell no."

"What about a fantasy film?" Pyrrha suggests.

"Whatcha got?" Zack asks.

"Perhaps Myrlin's Apprentice?" Pyrrha suggests.

"I second this. It's a really fascinating movie dealing with magic," Ren says, nodding.

"All in favor of Myrlin's Apprentice, raise your hands!" Nora says. Everyone's hand went up. "Then that's the movie we are watching!" she says before using her Scroll to setup the movie. The three teams kept watching movies throughout the rest of the day, pausing only for bathroom breaks and when food was needed.

As night approached, people were already either asleep or starting to pass out. Among those passed out were Cloud, Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang, and surprisingly Ren. Cloud and Pyrrha had fallen asleep together on Cloud's bed and no one had the heart to wake them. Ruby was holding onto Reno in her sleep. Reno also didn't have the heart to wake Ruby up, so he carefully brought Ruby to his bed as he would sleep on the couch. But that plan went out the window as Ruby didn't let go. Soft murmurs of stay were heard from the youngest team leader's mouth. Reno decided to comply with Ruby's demands and stayed with her. Blake and Weiss carefully moved Yang so she was on the couch. Blake darted into Team RWBY's dorm to snag a blanket to cover Yang. Weiss had found Yang's pillow on the floor and put it under her head while Blake draped the blanket over the blonde. Aerith had grabbed the blanket and Reno's pillow off the ground and handed them to the redhead before going back to Zack's side. Jaune went to get Ren's pillow and blanket while Nora adjusted Ren to fit on the couch.

"Well, since everyone else is here, we might as well join them and make it a huge sleepover!" Nora says not too loudly, as to not wake those who slumber.

"Well, we could get the couch from our dorm so that one more person didn't have to sleep on the floor," Weiss says.

"Nora and I can get it for you," Zack says. Weiss nods and leads Nora and Zack to the RWBY dorm so the two could grab the couch and bring it in. Jaune, in the meantime, went to grab the rest of the bedding from the Team JNPR dorm. He was surprised to see that Weiss was insisting on Blake using the couch.

"I need to get used to not as nice sleeping conditions. So please Blake, take the couch. I'll sleep on the floor," Weiss says. Blake finally gives in, figuring that having the heiress sleep on the floor might bring her icy attitude down a notch and make her more humble. Blake curls up on the couch with her blanket and pillow. Weiss, Jaune and Nora then get as comfortable as they could on the floor. Zack turns off the lights and easily makes his way back over to his and Aerith's bed.

"Night guys!" Zack says to those who were awake still. He got a few goodnights in return and soon enough all of the teens fell asleep, safe and sound in Team ZARC's room. Any thoughts about the Remnants and the inner circle vanished from Team ZARC's minds and instead, happy dreams replace those thoughts.


	16. Enter Amber & A Dance to Remember

It had been a few months after being initiated into Ozpin's inner circle. The tournament for the Vytal Festival was around the corner and now was the perfect time to slip by their friends and go see the Fall Maiden. Team ZARC gets to the elevator where Glynda was waiting for them. Entering the elevator with the strict Huntress, Team ZARC goes down to the safe room where Ozpin and Qrow were waiting. James would not be joining them since he was prepping the Atlas students for the Vytal festival and also getting ready to ship said students out to Vale. Glynda exits first, Aerith and Zack right behind her, Reno and Cloud right behind them. Reno whistles lowly.

"Impressive place you got Oz," Reno comments.

"Thank you Reno. Aerith, if you'll come forward, Amber is right through these doors," Ozpin says. He starts walking forward and Aerith follows. ZRC look at themselves and then at Glynda and Qrow. Seeing the Hunter and Huntress follow after Ozpin and Aerith, they follow as well.

"So what exactly happened to Amber?" Aerith asks as she walks up to the container that was just barely keeping Amber alive.

"Her attackers shot an arrow into her back and the woman that took half of her magic had some sort of Grimm parasite stuck to her face. I just barely got there in time to sever the connection and save her life," Qrow explains. Aerith nods and looks at the girl known as Amber, within the container. She looks at Amber with sadness, a hand on the glass of the container. When Ozpin speaks, Aerith looks towards him.

"So, do you think you can at the very least heal Amber?" Ozpin asks.

"Yes, I believe so," Aerith says, nodding. Zack, who had been watching his girlfriend, noticed an orange glow emitting from Amber.

"Aerith! Watch out!" Zack calls out. Everyone's heads snap to Amber and Aerith quickly backs away. The orange glow dies down and Aerith looks at her hand. Zack goes over to Aerith and checks her hands over.

"Huh... How intriguing..." Ozpin says. Reno looks at Ozpin, eyes narrowed.

"Mind explaining yo?" Reno asks, he was slightly suspicious now.

"It would appear that the Fall Maiden's magic is naturally attracted to Miss Gainsborough here," Ozpin says. He takes a sip from his mug.

"Are you implying that Miss Gainsborough will be the next Fall Maiden?" Glynda asks.

"I think that is going to be the case," Ozpin says.

"What?! No way!" Cloud says. "That'll make Aerith a really big target!"

"Cloud! It's alright. I have you, Reno and Zack," Aerith says, grabbing the spiky blonde's hands. "I've grown a lot being here and I feel completely safe knowing that you three have my back."

"Are you sure Aer?" Cloud asks, frowning a little bit.

"Yes. It's better than the horrible person who attacked Amber to have it and I don't think it would be wise for Amber to have the power again," Aerith explains. Zack smiles and kisses Aerith's cheek.

"That's my flower girl!" Zack praises, getting a giggle from said flower girl. Cloud sighs and he gives in, seeing that both Aerith and Zack were alright with it.

"That's great and all Oz, but why would the Fall Maiden's magic be attracted to her?" Qrow asks, frowning.

"I got an explanation I think," Reno says, surprising everyone. "Hey! I was a Turk. This is the type of shit I do, yo!"

"Very well Mr. Sinclair, enlighten us on your theory," Ozpin says, amused.

"So Aerith is something called a Half-Cetra. Cetra were these Ancient beings that settled our planet and had extraordinary magic powers. I think that Aerith's natural inclination towards magic and the Lifestream has attracted the Fall Maiden's power to her," Reno explains.

"I think you're right. The Maidens' magic is sentient in the thought that it knows who to go to when its current owner dies," Ozpin says.

"Alright, so we have a plan then - Aerith here heals Amber, Aerith becomes the new Fall Maiden and then we search for Amber's attacker. We take down Amber's attacker and then Aerith receives all of the Fall Maiden's power," Qrow says.

"That seems logical. Would you like to do it today Miss Gainsborough or would you like time to prepare?" Glynda asks.

"I would like time to prepare if that's possible," Aerith says. She gets a nod from Glynda and Ozpin. Qrow just shrugs it off.

"Alright, very well then. Please be ready for after the Vytal Festival. You four are dismissed," Ozpin says. With the dismissal, Team ZARC head off to the elevators. It would be the tournament in three days. Tonight was the dance for the Vytal Festival and Monday would mark the start. Team ZARC knew there would be 31 other teams competing, which meant 8 fights Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then 7 on Thursday. The closing ceremony would be Friday. Aerith had 8 more days of being just a normal person, well as normal as a Half-Cetra could be.

 **~ That Night ~**

Teams ZARC, RWBY and JNPR were ready for the dance, the girls all having converged in Team RWBY's dorm while the boys were in Team ZARC's. Aerith wore a pretty pink strapless dress with a slit that went up her left side. Her chocolately brown hair was down in big loose curls. Her usual pink ribbon was replaced with a magenta flower crown along the back of her head that was braided in, courtesy of Weiss. She had small magenta heels on. Pyrrha wore a similar dress to Aerith but it had a high collar and was the same color as her hair. Black heels were on her feet and her usual circlet on her head. Nora had a shorter pink dress with slightly larger pink heels. Poor Ruby was flustered as she wore a cute red dress that had a black mesh collar and a black ribbon. She was still not very good at heels and hoped she looked nice for Reno. Yang, who was all for supporting her little sister, was assuring Ruby that she looked fine. The busty blonde herself wore a short white dress that had a deep v-cut but two straps and had white heels. Weiss was similarly dressed but instead of a deep v-cut, she had a black mesh collar. Blake had a simple black dress that would have been a halter if it hadn't been for the black mesh sleeves. Once all the girls were ready, they stepped out to find the boys waiting and ready.

Upon hearing the door from Team RWBY's dorm open, all five boys looked over. Each was wearing a crisp black tuxedo with either a tie or a bow tie that went with their date's dress. Zack's spikes were somewhat tamed but he beams upon seeing Aerith. His tie was a matching pink. He walks over and offers his arm and Aerith loops her arm with him.

"Looking beautiful as ever flower girl!" Zack beams, his tail wagging a bit. Aerith giggles.

"Thank you Zack," Aerith smiles. Reno was actually wearing his suit normally and had a red tie. His goggles were gone and his crazy bangs and smaller spikes were gelled back. He approaches a blushing Ruby and offers his arm to her.

"Sorry if I step on your foot at any point..." Ruby says, blushing a bit as she takes Reno's arm.

"Don't worry too much about it shortstack," Reno smiles. Cloud looks at Pyrrha and his sky blue eyes were wide as he felt a blush creep up on his face. Like he knew his girlfriend was beautiful but this just surprised him. His blonde spikes did NOT want to tame so they stayed as is and his tie was almost the same color as his face. He approaches Pyrrha.

"Wow Pyrrha.. You... You look amazing," Cloud says, managing to get a sentence out. Pyrrha chuckles softly but her face darkens.

"Thank you Cloud," Pyrrha says with a smile. Once Cloud offered his arm, Pyrrha loops hers with his. Jaune approaches Weiss and offers his arm to her. He had a black bow tie.

"Will you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the dance..?" Jaune asks a bit nervously. Weiss actually gives a genuine smile. She loops her arm.

"Of course Jaune. You've come a long way," Weiss says. She had warmed up to Jaune and this made Jaune quite happy. The blonde smiles at Weiss. Ren, who had a pink bow tie, didn't even have to approach Nora as she just came up and links arms with Ren.

"You ready Ren?" Nora asks with a large grin.

"Of course Nora," Ren says, a smile appearing on his face. Yang looks at Blake and cheekily links arms.

"And that just leaves us Blake! Let's get going shall we?" Yang says, grinning. Blake looks down to the left, attempting to hide a blush as she stood linked to Yang. Everyone gave an affirmative and the three teams head down to where the dance would be taking place. The ballroom was already full with people but the place looked absolutely perfect as Team RWBY, well more like Weiss, was in charge of decorating this year. The music was blaring loudly and all of the students from Beacon, Atlas, Shade and Haven were either dancing on the dance floor or off to the side chatting and chilling. Zack and Aerith immediately went to the dance floor, big happy grins on their faces as all worries left their mind. Cloud and Pyrrha joined as well, Cloud a little more flustered than Pyrrha but still danced with her. Nora all but dragged Ren to the dance floor. Jaune nervously led Weiss towards the floor but relaxed when Weiss didn't move away from the floor. Reno let Ruby move them off to the side to just chill. Yang and Blake also joined Reno and Ruby off to the side. However, the two girls were almost thrown backwards when a certain monkey Faunus popped up between them.

"Hey Blake! Hey Yang!" Sun says with a wide grin. He still wore his jeans, gloves and sneakers but instead he had a black short sleeve button-up shirt that was closed instead of his usual open white shirt. There was also a white tie around his neck.

"Oh uh hi Sun! I'm surprised you're here," Blake says, blinking with surprise. Yang looks over him.

"Looking good Sun~ Didn't think you could clean up so nicely," Yang smirks. Sun laughs.

"Why thank you Yang. And why wouldn't I be here? I wouldn't get to see two of Beacon's most beautiful ladies," Sun says cheekily. Yang grins and Blake flushes.

"Well since you don't have a date Sun, you can be our date!" Yang says widely.

"What?" Blake says, looking at Yang with wide eyes.

"Cool! Well, as long as Blake is cool with it?" Sun asks.

"I uh mean sure?" Blake says, confused with everything. She was taken by surprise when she was sandwiched between the two blondes.

"Oh Blake.. You're so oblivious," Sun chuckles.

"I don't understand what you're getting at Sun.." Blake says, furrowing her eyebrows.

"You'll figure it out! Don't worry about it! But let's go dance!" Yang says, taking both of her dates' hands and bringing them to the dance floor. Reno had watched the entire exchange and laughed a bit while Ruby just shook her head with a smile. When a slow song came on, Reno holds his hand out to Ruby.

"Join me for a slow dance?" Reno asks. Ruby takes his hand, blushing some.

"S-Sure. Sorry if I step on your feet.." Ruby says again. Reno waves it off and brings Ruby onto the floor but close to the sides. He puts Ruby's hands on his shoulders before gently putting his hands on Ruby's waist. He steps closer to Ruby before gently swaying them in a circle. It was the most simple of slow dances but the most common and Reno had had to do at some of the company parties SHINRA had thrown. Ruby had managed to not step on Reno's feet and she relaxes once she got the hang at it. She smiles brightly at Reno, who in turn grins right back at her. Yang happened to look over and couldn't help but awe over the fact that her little sister was not only dancing with a boy, was enjoying dancing with a boy who was her boyfriend.

As the night wore on, Teams ZARC, RWBY and JNPR stayed at the dance for the most part, only popping out to get some fresh air since the ballroom was rather stuffy. Currently enjoying the fresh night air was Zack, Aerith, Reno and Ruby. Zack and Aerith were sitting on a bench and star gazing, enjoying the night sky that they appreciated and had grown accustomed to seeing. Reno and Ruby were talking a walk around the grounds as Ruby had had enough of the dance but didn't want to retire for the night. Reno had his arm draped around Ruby's shoulder while Ruby leaned her head against his side, an arm around his waist. The two were mostly silent but that was alright as it was a comfortable silence that allowed them to enjoy the night time scenery around them. Reno however, stopped walking and a frown appears on his face.

"Reno? Is something wrong?" Ruby asks, having noticed.

"Yeah, look up there. Someone is breaking into the CCT," Reno says, pointing to the figure running UP the side of the tower.

"Oh crap! We need to stop them! I don't have Crescent Rose on me. Oh I can call my locker here!" Ruby says, calling her locker.

"You do that. I'll head on up since I have my gun and EMR on me," Reno says, lifting up the back of his jacket to grab both.

"So I didn't imagine that.. You did have your weapons on you.." Ruby says as her locker appears right in front of them.

"Yeah old habits die hard. And I forgot how quick those things are," Reno comments as Ruby grabs Crescent Rose. Once both were ready, the two head into the CCT and were able to get in. They take the elevator all the way to the top, Reno's foot tapping anxiously. The elevator dinged softly and opened up. Reno has his gun aimed and ready as he slowly enters the room. His EMR was set to stun. Ruby carefully follows Reno, Crescent Rose in just the collapsed gun form. Silver eyes and celestine eyes carefully scan the room for the intruder but there was no sign of one.. Except the glowing red Scroll. "Cover me Ruby."

"Got it," Ruby says, turning so she was walking backwards and covering Reno's back. Reno removes the Scroll and looks it over.

"Shit, this ain't good yo. Someone's trying to hack into the CCT. We need to get Oz," Reno says, pocketing it the Scroll. Just as he turns, Ruby is pushing him to the ground as a large, black glass arrow shoots at them. A woman wearing a rather seductive, black, leather suit and smoldering amber eyes walks out of the dark.

"I'm afraid I'll need that Scroll back young man," the woman says.

"Oh yeah, cause I'm totally going to give the bad guy the Scroll she needs," Reno says sarcastically before opening fire on the woman. She dodges out of the way, only for Reno to Ricochet the bullet into her side, taking her by surprise. Ruby and Reno had taken that moment to stand up. Ruby shifts Crescent Rose into its full form before carefully launching an attack at the woman. Reno discreetly alerts Ozpin to their location before lashing out with EMR, hoping to stun the woman. Unfortunately for these two, this woman was too slippery to be hit as she dances around them, evading all of their hits. She jumps back and fires off a glass arrow at Reno, who smashes it with his EMR, only for the arrow to reform and strike him, sending him flying.

"Reno!" Ruby calls out in surprise. Seeing that the woman was going for the Scroll that her boyfriend had pocketed and had her back completely open, Ruby fires a sniper round into her back, sending the woman into the wall.

"Thanks shortstack," Reno says as he gets up. The elevator dings again and Ozpin walks through. The woman looks over and hisses. She aims an arrow at the window and shoots it. Ozpin had launched an attack at the woman but did not reach her in turn. The woman jumps over the two students, Reno just barely missing with a swipe of his EMR and vaults out of the now broken window and disappears into the night. Ozpin sighs but walks over.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Ozpin comments. Reno pulls out the blaring red Scroll and hands it to Ozpin.

"We found this connected to the mainframe over there yo. I think she was trying to hack the CCT," Reno says. Ozpin takes it and looks it over.

"Mr. Sinclair, do you have any experience in this field?" Ozpin asks, looking at the ex-Turk.

"I could probably manage to fix what damage she caused but I don't think I can get it done before the Vytal Festival starts," Reno answers.

"That's fine. As long as we can repair the damage before the doubles, I think we'll be all set," Ozpin says, pocketing the Scroll. "Though thank you both for stopping what happened here. Enjoy the rest of your night Mr. Sinclair and Miss Rose." The two nod and head out of the CCT and decide that they would spend the rest of the night with their friends and try not to worry too much about what happened in the CCT.


	17. Vytal Festival, Day 1

It was Monday. It was the first day of the Vytal Festival and today was a bunch of team battles. Reno and Ruby had informed their teams and Team JNPR about what happened in the CCT. Reno hadn't really interacted with anyone during the weekend as he was trying to find the bug and then start taking measures to stop it. Sunday night he had found the damn bug but was too tired to start making the defense code to prevent the bug from causing further damage. Reno was almost dead that morning when he woke up and walked with his team to the bullhead to get to the stadium. He blinks when seeing his small girlfriend hand him a cup of coffee. The ex-Turk then smiles and takes the coffee in one hand before bending down to peck Ruby on the cheek.

"Thanks shortstack," Reno smiles before taking a long sip of the dark, bitter liquid.

"You're welcome Reno! I know you needed it with how hard you've been working this weekend," Ruby says with a smile.

"That I have been. Still have a lot of work to do though," Reno says, sighing. Ruby hugs him.

"You got it Reno! I believe in you!" the small leader says.

"Besides! You have tomorrow off at the very least since today we fight!" Zack says, grinning widely. His tail was wagging excitedly.

"Shit, we're fighting today? I hope we're not the first set of fighters," Reno groans before drinking more of his coffee. "And how do you know the order already..?"

"Eheheh.. Ozpin told me we were fighting today cause of the whole CCT thing. We're the only team set in stone to fight today. I don't know when we'll be fighting or who we're fighting," Zack says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well that was kind of him to at least set us for today," Reno grumbles. Ruby giggles at how much of a grump her boyfriend was being at the moment. He looks at Ruby. "And don't worry shortstack, I'll always watch your matches and cheer you on."

"Thanks Reno!" Ruby beams. "And I'll be doing the same!" she exclaims while hugging Reno tighter. Yang decided that at that moment she would ruin the moment by hugging both Reno and Ruby.

"Awwww! My lil sis and her boyfriend are so cute together!" Yang says.

"YANG!" Ruby squeals. Reno winced a bit and just chugs his coffee. Soon enough, the bullhead landed and the students get off, Reno tossing the coffee cup into a trashcan as he gets off. Since Reno was just writing the defense code, he would sit with his friends. After his friends find a good section of seats, Reno gets situated and pulls out his Scroll, launching the coding program Ozpin had given him. He types away, not really paying attention to any of the festival right now. He only took a break when he heard Team RWBY get called up. Reno gently grabs Ruby's wrist before bending down to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Good luck Ruby," Reno smiles. Ruby was blushing but she thanks Reno before rushing off with her team to go fight Team ABRN. He, like the rest of Team ZARC and Team JNPR, were cheering the all girl squad. He was definitely the loudest out of them all, specifically cheering Ruby on, knowing the girl had stage fright. However, he had noticed that Ruby had slowly started to overcome her stage fright and it showed in the fight against Team ABRN. When the fight finally finished, Reno was very much awake and was cheering VERY loudly upon seeing that Team RWBY won. Since Team RWBY's match was the last match before the lunch break, Reno heads towards the exit to congratulate Ruby. Just as he arrived, he was tackled by a flurry of rose petals and slid on the floor a bit. He laughs and wraps his arms around Ruby.

"Eeeeeee! Reno! We did it!" Ruby squeals happily.

"I know. Good job shortstack. I was cheering for you the whole time," Reno chuckles. He kisses the top of her head.

"I know! I could hear you!" Ruby beams up at Reno. She then gets off of Reno and helps him up onto his feet. "You guys are next after lunch right? Against Team SAGE right?"

"Yup. I'm not too worried. After all, it's us - one of the power houses of Beacon!" Reno smirks.

"You got that right Reno!" Zack grins. The rest of Team ZARC and Team JNPR had caught up. "But let's go eat before the break is up! Wouldn't want to be fighting on a empty stomach or recently full stomach!"

"Zack, you're always hungry," Aerith giggles. She was happily against Zack's side as they walked onto the bullhead.

"Have you decided who you're sending to the doubles?" Cloud asks Team RWBY. The four girls look at each other. They hadn't completely agreed yet.

"We were either thinking Weiss and Yang or Ruby and Yang," Blake answers.

"I still think Weiss should do it. The two of you could blast through the doubles with ease!" Ruby says.

"But you're our team leader Ruby and I believe you should do the honor," Weiss counters.

"I say we enjoy food and the next two days and then decide!" Yang cheers. Weiss and Ruby agree to that and with that the three teams go get lunch and relax while they can during the break. About twenty minutes prior to the second half of fights, Team ZARC and their opponents, Team SAGE, were called to the auditorium. Saying their goodbyes, Team ZARC hurries on over to the bullhead and spot a team of only whom they assume to be Team SAGE. Team SAGE consisted of a male fox Faunus who was very lithe, a bulkier male wolf Faunus, a very bulky human male and a very short female human. They wore the Atlas uniform.

"Team ZARC right?" the fox Faunus speaks up as they ride in the bullhead.

"You betcha! You must be Team SAGE then!" Zack says happily.

"We are. I'm Sebastian Tesla, the leader of Team SAGE. With me are Al Sakura, Gerome Churchwell and Ellie Bedford," the newly named Sebastian says boredly. Al and Gerome wave happily while Ellie just nods to them.

"Well, I'm Zack Fair, leader of Team ZARC and with me are Aerith, Gainsborough, Reno Sinclair and Cloud Strife!" Zack grins. Aerith gives a gentle hello, Reno a yo and Cloud just nods his head to them. Sebastian puts his hand towards Zack.

"May the best team win," Sebastian says. Zack grips his hand and shakes it.

"May the best team win!" Zack says in return, just as the bullhead lands down. The teams part ways and go into separate waiting rooms. Soon enough, the many, many voices could be heard above them. The Gaians hear Oobleck and Port call Team SAGE out and they get excited for their introductions, curious as to how the professors would introduce their own team.

"And now, we have one of Beacon's own teams! I present you the very promising first year team, Team ZARC! Led by one Zack Fair!" Oobleck calls out. The aforementioned team walks out, weapons in hands and a lot of cheering, specifically from Team JNPR and Team RWBY, is heard echoing around the stadium.

"Let's see, the two biomes that Team SAGE and Team ZARC will have to deal with are... a Jungle on Team SAGE's side and a swamp on Team ZARC's side!" Port announces. The biomes pop up on the appropriate sides. Reno noticed a smirk appear on Ellie's face.

"Yo, we need to watch out for Ellie. Something tells me that she's gonna benefit from these biomes," Reno says lowly.

"Alright, so we take her out first," Zack says, before Oobleck gives them the go ahead. Zack immediately goes to bum-rush Ellie, only to get blocked by Al, a giant battle axe intercepting his buster sword. Ellie takes that moment to dash into the jungle and puts her hand down, vines immediately appearing from the ground, rushing towards Team ZARC, specifically Aerith. Cloud had charged Ellie as well, only for Gerome's club to intercept his sword. Sebastian then also runs towards Aerith, only to get side blinded by a smack to the face with an EMR.

"Oi. Hands off the flower girl," Reno smirks. Sebastian growls, deciding that since Reno was the bigger problem and figuring that Ellie should be able to take Aerith out, he approaches Reno. The two exchange blows, fencing sword clashing with the EMR. Aerith remained calm seeing the vines and she easily dances her away from the vines. While she may not be a strong fighter, she was very agile. She darts her way towards Ellie, seeing as the boys each had a target to fight off against. However, as shes got closer, Ellie's whip lashed out as well as vines so Aerith had to stay put and swat away the vines and the whip with her stave.

Cloud was the first to break through his personal fight. He pushes back and off of Gerome, sending the bulky male with a black Mohawk stumbling backwards. Since he couldn't use his Semblance, he just straight up charges Gerome. He hacks and slashes without giving Gerome a a chance to get an attack in. Cloud was backing Gerome into the swamp, having forced Gerome to turn while they were in a weapon lock. Just as Gerome steps back to try to put some distance, he stumbles backwards due to stepping in the swamp, allowing Cloud to tear through a good block of his Aura, and finish it off by slamming the butt of his sword down on the G of Team SAGE. He looks around and sees that Aerith needed more help and runs over to her first.

Zack activates his Semblance and three portraits of Jaune appear, "I'll Be Your Shield!" flaring across his mind. His Zaffre Aura pulses out and Sebastian, Al and Ellie are all now focused on Zack, with Al being hyperfocused on Zack. The vines that were attacking Aerith, and Cloud when he arrived, now creeped towards the wolf Faunus of Team ZARC. Sebastian immediate disengages from Reno and runs towards Zack, ready to strike the leader of ZARC down. Smirking widely, Zack ducks down from the blade of the great axe and slashes upwards with the buster sword, Al stumbling back. The ex-SOLDIER knocks Sebastian's fencing sword away a few feet. However, the smirk fades when he sees multiple Sebastians. He moves out of the way of the vines that threaten to tie him up.

Reno sighs seeing what Zack was doing, however he runs towards Ellie since everyone was focused on Zack. He gets to Cloud and Aerith and gestures for Cloud to assist Zack. With the Chocobo running off towards Zack and the Faunus of Team SAGE, Reno and Aerith run towards where Ellie was. "I take the front.. You take the back..?" he whispers to Aerith. The girl nods and Reno dashes forwards, EMR at the ready to strike. Ellie is forced to rip her attention from Zack as a blur of red comes her way and whacks her face with electricity. The short blonde jumps backwards, only to get stabbed by a stave. Ellie whips her whip in a circle, Reno and Aerith jumping back and away. Reno was trying to save his gun for the doubles so he didn't pull it out. Vines whipped out at him again and he bashes them with his EMR. "Aerith! Now!"

"Right!" Aerith says, reaching into the belt that she had recently acquired. She pulls out a small capsule of red dust and chucks it at Ellie's feet, causing a small fire to suddenly light. The vines and ground around Ellie start to burn up and she is forced to abandon the patch of area, taking a decent bit of Aura to get out. Aerith, having darted behind Ellie and expecting her to go backwards, gets in a rapid fire series of jabs, and trips Ellie up with a sweep of her stave. Reno, who went through the fire, taking damage to his Aura as well, comes slamming down on Ellie. He had jumped up and landed on her stomach, and slams the EMR into her face. This knocked Ellie into the red and the two backed off. Aerith heals Reno to replace the Aura he had lost from fighting Sebastian and from the fire.

Cloud and Zack had been fighting back to back while Reno and Aerith took care of Ellie. The mirages of Sebastian were annoying to deal with considering there were currently seven Sebastians while there was also Al beating down on them. Just as Reno and Aerith made it over, Cloud shoved Zack out of the way and got hit directly with a shotgun blast to the chest. The Chocobo goes flying back, two mirages going away as his aura hits the red. Reno comes up behind Al and smashes him over the head with the EMR, causing the other wolf Faunus to stumble and also enter the red.

Sebastian was impressed at how hearty Team ZARC was and how they took out the rest of his team. Keeping his mirages up, he advances on the three, backing them into the jungle. He could still win this possibly if he could take Zack out first. Any time one of his mirages were dispelled, he would throw up another one, being mindful of his Aura levels. However, it became clear that that tactic with his mirages would no longer be a valid tactic as Aerith seemed to be slicing through them quickly. Scowling, Sebastian retreats into the jungle, the mirages disappearing. Zack smirks.

"Alright! Let's finish this!" Zack says, giving chase. He followed his enhanced sense of smell and picked up on Sebastian's scent. "Alright, I'll be the main distraction, Aerith you need to hide and Reno, you're the secondary distraction! And when Sebastian is focused on me or Reno and his Aura is low, you give the final blow Aer!" Zack explains. With a nod from the other two, Zack charges further in, Aerith following in the bushes while Reno followed in the trees. Zack lets out a loud shout as he tackles Sebastian into a small clearing. The two roll and struggle, Sebastian trying to get out of Zack's grapple, Zack keeping the fox Faunus in the grapple. Zack activates his Aura and three portraits of Nora appear. His Aura floods with electricity, and he depletes a good portion of Sebastian's almost instantly.

"AERITH! NOW!" Reno shouts, seeing that Sebastian was now on top of Zack, but Zack's head was in the clear. Aerith dashes out and with a grunt, she rams the butt of her stave into Sebastian's temple, effectively putting his Aura into the red and knocking him out. The match is over and as Zack, Reno and Aerith leave the battle, Cloud runs up to them. Ellie and Al walk up to the winning team and congratulate them in Sebastian's stead since their leader was knocked out. Medics had gone to get Sebastian and Gerome out of the arena.

"And there we have it! Team ZARC comes out on top after a very brutal battle on both sides! Next up is Team JNPR vs Team BRNZ!" Oobleck calls out. As Team ZARC heads back to their seats, they pass Team JNPR. Cloud gives Pyrrha a good luck kiss after. Team ZARC gets back to their seats next to Team RWBY. After the congratulations were passed around, Reno sits down next to Ruby, only for the small girl to gently pull his head down onto her lap. He looks up and smirks seeing Ruby blush. After he adjusts his body, he pulls his Scroll out to continue his coding. The last three matches go off without a problem, but Reno still works at his code diligently. Tomorrow would be his last chance to prevent a lot of damage and he prays to the Lifestream and Gaia that he'll succeed.


	18. Vytal Festival, Day 2

On the second day of the Vytal Festival, Reno was on his way to the CCT. He had worked late into the night trying to get it done in time and he did it. After all, Ozpin had asked him to try to get the defense code done before the doubles. As Reno moseys his way on over to the CCT, he thinks about his time here on Remnant. If someone had told him a few years prior to his death on Gaia that he would die and be sent to another world, he would have laughed in their face. But here he is, on a different world with friends and even a girlfriend. Reno was honestly surprised how quickly he and the others were able to fit in with teams RWBY and JNPR. A small smile stretches across his lips as he thinks about how Ruby confessed and asked him out after the sparring that team ZRVY had planned out. The small dates they had here and there flash across his mind as does the memories of the dance. Seeing Ruby in her cute little dress was something he wouldn't forget. However, the happy memories of Ruby switch to the more serious ones like Amber and what they were calling the Remnants of Sephiroth. He was curious if the Remnants were working with that masked lady that he and Ruby ran into in the CCT. He stops for a moment and draws the connection that the woman that he and Ruby confronted was probably one of the people that attacked Amber which meant something a lot more sinister was going on during the Vytal Festival.

Pulling out his Scroll, Reno texts his revelation that he had to Ozpin. He then jogs the rest of the way to the CCT and gets in. He taps his foot impatiently as the elevator takes its time getting to the top of the tower. When he finally gets there, Reno shows his Scroll ID to one of the CCT employees. After checking that Reno's permission was legit, the employee hands the Scroll back to the redheaded ex-Turk. Reno goes over to where the masked lady's Scroll had been and puts in his own. After overriding some of the permissions, Reno downloads his defense code onto the computer of the CCT. He does some typing to get it started after it downloads. He watches the screen carefully as the defense code slowly searches through all the memory to find the bugs that the masked woman's virus had left. The redhead huffs a bit as the code was taking longer than he hoped it would. He taps his foot anxiously as he watches it work. He was startled out of his intense focus upon the program when one of the CCT employees tapped his shoulder. Looking over, he notices that the employee was offering a cup of coffee and the redhead took the cup gratefully. He takes a sip of the coffee and goes back to watching the program.

"You're Reno Sinclair, right?" the CCT employee asks. Reno side glances at them. The employee was a Faunus and if Reno had to guess, a bald eagle based upon the white feathers that were in place of hair upon the employee's head. There were sharp golden eyes and the nose had a sharp hook. The employee was male and Reno also noticed brown tail feathers sticking out from the long jacket that the Faunus wore.

"Yup," Reno says, popping the p. "Who are you?"

"Jett Libertalus," The newly named Jett says. He holds out a hand to be shook and Reno noticed some brown feathers along the ulna side of his arm. Reno grasps Jett's hand and shakes it.

"Nice to meet ya. What can this simple student do for you today?" Reno asks before taking a sip of his coffee. Jett chuckles.

"You and I both know that you are no simple student, Reno. The fact that you were able to make a program for the situation that works almost perfectly is not a common trait amongst you younger folk - especially Hunters," Jett says.

"Well, what can I say yo? Everyone's got their peculiar little traits," Reno chuckles. Jett puts a hand on Reno's shoulder.

"You've got a lot of potential. I wouldn't be surprised if you get recruited into one of those secret service like groups with your skill set - programming, combat, useful Semblance and from what I've heard from Oz, your ability to analyze and make connections quickly," Jett says. Reno managed to hold back a snort cause that's EXACTLY what he did before he died. He just smirks at Jett.

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Reno says. Jett chuckles and nods. The bald eagle Faunus pats Reno on the shoulder before starting to turn to leave Reno to observing his work. "Wait, hey Jett, can I ask for a small favor?"

"Well, since you've done a favor for us, I suppose I can see what I can do. What do you need?" Jett asks, arching a white eyebrow at Reno.

"Anyway you can get me access to the security feed? I'd rather not hack your systems," Reno says.

"Well since Oz trusts you this much, that shouldn't be an issue. I just need your Scroll number and I can put you into the system of having security feed clearance," Jett says, nodding. He pulls out his Scroll and goes over to Reno's Scroll. With Reno's permission, he finds the Scroll ID and then logs it into the nifty program that grants security clearance. Jett waits for the approval message and then downloads the program that would allow Reno remote access to the security feed. He then looks to Reno with a nod. "There ya go. Don't go abusing that power now Reno."

"I won't yo!" Reno grins at Jett. The bald eagle Faunus chuckles and takes his leave to go back to the earlier work he had been doing before talking with Reno. The ex-Turk then gets to work on his Scroll again. He was glad that the program he made would still work as he did other things on his Scroll. He pauses to grab a nearby stool to sit upon. After opening up the remote access security feed, Reno searches for the feeds that were focused on the CCT and the surrounding area. He finds pulls up the feed from the night of the dance and scrubs through it to find the masked woman. He finds the point where the woman entered the tower and then scrubs slowly backwards to find which direction she came from. Reno pauses the video once he finds the first frame that captured the woman. He zooms in on it and tries to get good look of the surroundings or her face. 'Damn mask... If it weren't for that mask, I bet we could identify her quickly using a facial recognition program...' the redheaded male thinks. He then focuses on the surroundings and noticed that the general direction was the dorms. Looking at the time on the video feed, Reno pulls up video feed from outside the dorm buildings at the same time and scrubs back a little bit. "Shit."

"What's a matter Reno?" Jett calls out.

"Looks like our culprit is either a student or posing as a student," Reno says. Jett is immediately over by Reno's side and looks at the video feeds.

"Well shit indeed Reno. Smart thinking. She must be posing as someone from Haven, Atlas or Shade," Jett says.

"That's what I'm thinking yo. I'm going to update Oz on this revelation," Reno hums out.

"Definitely a good call. You've got a knack for this," Jett says. Reno only nods as he types out a quick update to Ozpin about what he discovered.

"Do you mind if I chill up here more to do the rest of my searching?" Reno asks.

"Not at all. In fact, you're a big help kid so please, stay as long as you want," Jett says. Reno nods and gets back to work. He sends a quick message out to his team to keep an eye out for the masked woman among the students. He knew they would be observing the rest of the team fights today.

 **~At the Arena~**

Cinder had been quite happy with the progress she had made, despite the small interference from the night of the dance. She had setup all of the fights yesterday. She had seen that Ozpin had hard coded Team ZARC into the pickings for the first day so she went with that to make it less suspicious of what she was doing. She was sitting back in her spot at the arena, picking the teams to fight but making it seem random. As she picks the next set of teams to fight, the last battle before lunch, an error message pops up on her screen. Frowning, Cinder reads the message and notices that she had been kicked out of the programming. Her amber colored eyes search around to see if anyone of interest was missing, and lo and behold - the redhead male was missing.

"Shit," Cinder curses under her breath. It doesn't go unnoticed by the silver haired male next to her. He looks over.

"What's wrong Cinder?" Mercury asks, arching a silver eyebrow at her.

"Remember how I told you that.. Ruby and Reno fought me in the CCT on the night of the dance?" Cinder starts.

"Yeah. What about them?" Mercury prods.

"Tell me Mercury.. Who's missing from Teams RWBY, JNPR and ZARC?" Cinder asks. Mercury takes a moment to look for the three mentioned teams. He finds the three teams as they usually all sat together. He notes that all of Teams RWBY and JNPR were there. As he does a headcount for Team ZARC, that's when he notices someone was missing.

"Reno. He's missing," Mercury answers.

"So with Reno missing coupled with the fact that I'm now kicked out from the CCT, think you can draw the conclusion I came to?" Cinder asks, her voice dry.

"You think he made some sort of program to kick you out," Mercury concludes. Cinder nods. At this point, Emerald had joined them and heard the tail end of the conversation.

"Well that's a problem. Looks like we'll need the help of those three silver haired weirdos if the tournament doesn't go as planned," Emerald hums out.

"Well, I have faith that the two of you will be successful in taking out whomever you have to fight tomorrow. Though Emerald, were you able to find out who our Teams of Interest are sending in for the doubles?" Cinder says.

"Yeah, Team JNPR is sending Pyrrha and Nora. Team RWBY is going with Ruby and Yang. Apparently it was a toss up between Weiss and Ruby but Weiss had insisted that Ruby should do it. And with Team ZARC it's Reno and Zack," Emerald reports.

"I have no doubt about those pairings making it to the singles. Though I do hope that Zack and Pyrrha are the ones that are sent to the singles. The singles could be interesting depending on if Ruby or Yang go to the singles, but I'm betting on Yang being the one to advance," Cinder says.

"Well since you can't control the pairings, do you still want me to go into the singles?" Mercury asks.

"As much as I hate to admit, you are the better suited one for the solo tournament fighting than I am," Emerald grumbles. Mercury just smirks at Emerald.

"And here I never thought I would hear you utter those words~" Mercury says, looking at the green-haired girl in question.

"Don't push your luck," Emerald growls, ready to punch her partner. While Emerald and Mercury continued to bicker away, Cinder was contacting one of their otherworldly associates. She informed them that there was a high chance they would have to step in on Thursday as things were not going as planned. Cinder had the worst case scenario plan for Thursday ready to go which didn't matter the outcome of the singles. By having these three associates - Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj as they took to calling themselves - appear at the arena, they would start to wreck havoc and force the truth about Team ZARC to come out into the open, causing panic and fear. The chaos that would ensue would cause Grimm to gather, giving her the perfect chance to slip into Beacon and to where Amber was being stored so she could regain the last of the Fall Maiden's powers. One way or the other... Cinder was going to get that power.


	19. Vytal Festival, Day 3 & 4

It was the third day of the Vytal Festival which meant it was the doubles. Team ZARC was already in the arena, Zack vibrating with excitement. His ears were up and perked and his tail wagging back and forth vigorously. Aerith giggles at how bouncy Zack was in and pats his head between his ears. Since Zack was too excited to sit still, he stands up and he starts to do his squats to burn off some of that energy. Cloud looks over at the red-headed team member. A yellow eyebrow arches up as Reno just sprawls in his seat, seemingly unbothered. However, Cloud knew better.

"Nervous Reno?" Cloud asks, MAKO blue eyes focused on the ex-Turk. A sigh comes in response.

"Yeah, a little bit yo. I'm just glad we aren't first. Or at least I hope we're not," Reno says. "Also, just uh the fact that we've trouble among us.. And we don't know when those Remnants are gonna show yo," he says, his voice quieting on the second bit.

"Aw don't worry too much Reno! We gotta focus on our fight that's gonna come up!" Zack says, carefree as usual.

"I suppose you're right yo," Reno sighs. He looks up just as he hears a flurry of footsteps and manages to brace himself for his girlfriend's incoming tackle hug. He grunts a bit. "Heya shortstack!"

"Hi Reno! You ready today?" Ruby asks, looking up into the celestine eyes of her boyfriend.

"As ready as I can be. You?" Reno says.

"Yeah, but a little more nervous. Yang, Blake and Weiss all agree it'll help me get over my performance anxiety," Ruby says. Reno nods and runs a hand through Ruby's hair to calm both his and Ruby's nerves.

"Agreed," Reno hums out. Soon enough the rest of their friends appear and take various seats around them. Pyrrha walks over and goes to sit next to Cloud but eeps a bit when her boyfriend pulls her into the same seat. She blushes lightly but smiles as she sits with Cloud, leaning against him a bit, her butt on the seat but her legs are draped across his lap. Cloud keeps one arm around Pyrrha's waist and the other arm rests on Pyrrha's thigh furthest from his chest. Yang and Blake were behind Team ZARC as where Ren and Nora. The most surprising was that Jaune and Weiss were actually sitting next to one another and chatting. Soon enough the first teams were called up and their nerves soon settle as the first match begins. When the match ends, the next two teams are announced and it's Team ZARC of Beacon versus Team TMRC of Haven. Zack and Reno get up and they head on down to the arena. As they head out into the center of the arena, two very pale individuals with matching purple eyes. The male had short black hair, a revolving crossbow in hand where as the female had long platinum blonde hair with a katana, a canister of raw and refined Dust on her hip.

"Hello! I'm Zack Fair and this is Reno Sinclair," Zack grins as they wait for the environments to appear. The male steps up, matching Zack's grin.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Milo Bennet and this is my twin Tasha!" Milo says. He sticks his hand out to Zack. Zack shakes it.

"May the best duo win!" Zack grins. Reno throws up a peace sign where as Tasha just give a curt nod. The environments pull up and they have a beach to the west, a field with tall grasses to the north, a rain forest to the south and to the east was a wasteland. The signal to go was given and Zack immediately launches himself at the twins, Tasha countering him with a blade made in blue refined Dust crystals. Milo immediately jumps back and pulls up his crossbow to aim at Zack. Reno rushes forward and towards Milo, swatting a bolt out of the air as he runs towards Milo. Milo switches his attention on Reno and dances away from the redhead. Tasha and Zack exchange blows in the middle, neither gaining ground at the moment.

Just as Zack went to upwards slash at Tasha, the female was yanked away towards Milo. Zack's eyes widen as he watches Milo slash Reno and the blue Dust breaks on the redhead, freezing him in place. Seeing that his friend and teammate was in trouble, Zack activates his Semblance, three portraits of Pyrrha and "Boomerang!" flash across his mind. The wolf Faunus hefts the Buster sword and yeets it at Milo and Tasha. Milo ducks in time but Tasha gets hit by the sword and goes flying into the beach, tumbling towards the ocean. Zack runs towards Reno and Milo, the sword flying back towards him. Milo starts to pull Tasha back towards him only for him to stop part way so that Tasha could yank him away from the duo of Team ZARC. Zack huffs a bit but breaks the ice around Reno.

"Thanks," Reno says to his team leader. He suddenly shoves Zack out of the way and redirects the bolt that was aimed for Zack. First it aimed to the left and then returns fire to Milo, striking the male twin with surprise. He then brings out his and starts firing off at the male twin, landing two more shots before having to redirect one more as the male twin recovers from the bolt being redirected. Tasha pushes Milo towards the rain forest, taking the hit from the redirected bullet. Zack runs to chase after Milo but Tasha intercepts him with a blade of yellow Dust. Reno takes off after Milo, who he knew had taken a decent amount of damage. The redhead spots the enemy ravenette and dashes towards him, the EMR raised and poised to hit. He brings it down on Milo, the male intercepting the EMR with his crossbow. Reno smirks a bit cruelly and holds the gun up point blank and unloads the rest of the magazine into Milo, efficiently knocking the male into the red. Smirking in victory, Reno heads back towards Zack and Tasha.

Zack and Tasha were still trading blows but the male wolf Faunus was pushing the female towards the wasteland, gaining the upper hand ever so slowly. Reno darts out of the rain forest into the wasteland, making sure to get behind the blonde twin. He raises his EMR and slams it on top of Tasha's head, the girl grunting from impact, her purple gaze going down. Zack takes that moment to activate his Semblance once more, and this time it was three Rens and "Now You See Me. Now You Don't." flashes in his mind and he quietly moves off to the side. When Tasha looked up, she was confused as to where the wolf Faunus went. But her attention was torn away as Reno swiped in at her. She takes a green crystal and chucks it at Reno. It hits his chest and explodes, wind forcing him to go flying. Reno groans as he lands hard on his back. But when he looks up, he grins seeing Zack tear through the rest of Tasha's Aura with a heavy blow to her back. The match was called and after shaking hands with the TM of Team TMRC, Zack and Reno head back up to their friends victorious, Reno a little more worse for wear.

 **~ The Next Day ~**

As Team ZARC enters the arena for the last day, there was a very sudden intense feeling of tension. Each of them frown, wondering why they were all collectively feeling tension in the air. Aerith subconsciously moves closer to Zack, holding onto his arm as they went to their usual seats. Team RWBY and JNPR seem to feel it too as they all settled down and around Team ZARC. Ruby and Blake were the most skittish in the group, Ruby clinging shamelessly to Reno to calm her nerves. Blake settled or curling up a bit in a ball, but leaned towards Yang subconsciously. Team SSSN also joins them and Sun immediately sits on the other side of Blake, helping to give comfort to the cat Faunus as the monkey Faunus could also sense the bizarre tension. Soon enough Professor Oobleck and Professor Port are starting the last day of the tournament - The singles. The first two to get called up is Yang vs Zack. The two walk down together and give each other a playful grin. They get on the stage and noticed there was no environment randomizer. Zack takes his Buster sword and puts it into the ground, matching Yang's stance.

"I hope you're not going easy on me there Dad," Yang taunts, grinning widely as she uses the nickname that Zack hated.

"Of course not! I'm just giving myself a challenge by matching your style! If I need it I'll grab my sword!" Zack says. Yang grins.

"Oh this will be fun!" Yang says. Just as Oobleck shouts go, Yang fires two shots behind her and raises a fist to hit Zack in the face. Zack, knowing Yang's style, predicted this and side steps. He gives a hard jab into Yang's side. He knew that his fight against Yang was a time bomb - the more the blonde took, the more that would come back when she activated her Semblance. Yang recovers quickly and swipes Zack's feet form under him. She immediately body slams onto Zack before straddling Zack to start punching his face. As Yang goes to strike his face, Zack grabs her fist and does the same to the other first that came crashing towards his face. The two struggle with one another in a lock and Zack manages to flip them and breaks out of the lock. He dives to the side and stands up, Yang following suit. Both grin and launch at each other again, trading punches, kicks and jabs of all sorts. Eventually Yang activates her Semblance, her lavender eyes turning red and her hair comes alight with flame.

"Aw shit... I waited too long-" Zack says. He dances out of Yang's attacks, ducking, dodging and weaving and blocking when necessary. Occasionally Yang would land a punch on Zack. Eventually, Zack grabs her fist and under her bicep, turns, thrusts his butt into Yang's hips as he bends forward, the momentum allowing him to slam Yang into the ground. Glancing up, Zack smirks at seeing how low Yang was. "Sorry Yang! Don't take this too personally!" he says before kicking Yang in the side, knocking her into the red. Yang groans but stands up as the match was called.

"Well, as much as it hurts my ego to lose so early, I'm glad it was to you Dad," Yang grins. Zack chuckles and after putting his sword on his back, he slings one of Yang's arms around his shoulder and helps her out of the arena, the two exchanging playfully bantering. The rest of the fights go just as excitingly, with a small break to allow all winning fighters to rest before round two. No one was surprised that Pyrrha was one of the winners of round one. When round two began, the first fight was between Pyrrha and Sun. Sun had put up a really good fight against Pyrrha but he was not surprised to lose. Zack heads down to the stage to face off Mercury. He knew the male was one for kicking and seemed to have guns in his shoes. The two males nod to each other, neither giving pleasantries. Soon enough the fight began.

Mercury launched the first attack and he knew he was going to lose. If the fact that Yang couldn't put a dent in the wolf Faunus, that gave off a lot of warning bells in his mind. He was starting to double guess if he was on the correct side. As he exchanged blows with Zack, slowly starting to lose ground. Mercury glanced towards Cinder and had a feeling that she was going to call in the Remnants. Biting back some guilt, Mercury knew he had to warn Zack about what Cinder was doing. He knew that he was on the wrong side by going with Cinder. Just as a strong kick to his stomach lands, the match is called. Mercury was a little surprised to see Zack offering a gloved hand to him, but takes it.

"Nice fight man," Zack says. He starts walking off the stage and Mercury follows. But once inside the hallway, Mercury stops him. Zack turns to the silver haired male, tilting his black spiked head. "Something up?"

"Listen. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but you gotta get back to the tower. Cinder, the orange haired chick on my team, she's going to call the Remnants right before your fight with Pyrrha as she goes to attack Amber," Mercury says. Zack's eyes widen.

"Wait, really? What made you decide this?" Zack asks shocked. Mercury runs a hand through his hair.

"By fighting against you, I realized that I'm on the wrong side. Now get your team and go!" Mercury says. And without another word, Zack runs off to his team. Along the way, he runs into Jaune and Pyrrha and the two follow him as he sprints to his team. Zack explains what Mercury just told him and Team ZARC starts running to the shuttles, Pyrrha and Jaune following suit.

"Wait up for us!" Jaune says. Team ZARC looks at the two of them.

"We're coming with!" Pyrrha says. With no time to argue, Team ZARC allow Jaune and Pyrrha join them but Zack tells them that when they get inside the tower to where they were going, Jaune and Pyrrha where to stay outside the chamber they were going to enter. Zack messages Ozpin to let him know what was going on. Immediately once the shuttle lands and the doors open, the six sprint off towards Beacon and to the elevator that would bring them to Ozpin's office. Security alarms were going off just as they arrived as the security feeds showed Ozpin that Yazoo, Kadaj and Loz had arrived at the arena. Aware that Jaune and Pyrrha were with Team ZARC, he was not surprised to see the six burst into his office. Without another word, Ozpin brings them down to the chamber that Amber resided in. Jaune and Pyrrha take defensive stances outside while Team ZARC run into the chamber. Aerith runs over to Amber and places her hands over Amber. As Aerith focuses on healing Amber from the attack, a crash was heard outside the chamber. The males take a defensive stance inside in case Jaune and Pyrrha were knocked out.

Cinder had just arrived on scene, unaware that Mercury had sold her out. She was a little surprised to see Jaune there but not Pyrrha since neither her or Zack were at the arena when the Remnants arrived. She scoffs and starts unleashing her attacks upon the two, Pyrrha most confronting her. Jaune helped when he could, doing the best he could which was a lot more than he was able to manage in the beginning of the school year. The battle was going no where as the two students were able to hold Cinder off for the most part. The battle only started to shift towards Cinder's favor when she managed to shoot Pyrrha in the ankle, forcing the redhead onto her knees. Jaune, who had been sprawled onto the floor, his shield knocked from his grasp, gets up and launches himself in front of Pyrrha just as another arrow is left loose. Despite having a lot of Aura, Jaune's Aura had been depleted heavily as Cinder batted him around the area. His Aura breaks as the arrow hits him. Having no time to recover and Pyrrha not having the time to react, another arrow strikes Jaune through the chest, right into the heart and the blonde's body falls limply against his partner's body. Pyrrha's green eyes widen as tears start to fall and she lets out an ugly scream just as Team ZARC bursts out.

A gasp from Aerith confirms what happened and Zack's Semblance triggers once more. Due to being in a rage, three portraits of Blake appear as "Unleash the Beast!" flashes in his mind. A feral snarl appears on the ex-SOLDIER's face as he launches himself at Cinder, taking the female by surprise. His powerful and erratic attacks have Cinder on the defensive. Cloud and Reno pull Pyrrha and Jaune into the chamber, Aerith quickly looking to see if she could heal Jaune but it was too late. Cinder's obsidian arrow had struck true. Aerith, with her heart heavy at being unable to keep Jaune alive, steels herself and steps back out to where Zack was. Zack notices his flower girl and in a moment, he has the now bloodied and battered Cinder restrained. Aerith approaches and reaches a hand out. Cinder's eyes widen in horror as she feels the power of the Fall Maiden leave her and goes to Aerith, realizing that Aerith was the new Fall Maiden. When the power finally rejoins within Aerith, Cinder slumps unconscious and Zack unceremoniously dumps her body. He wraps Aerith into his arms and she begins to cry, Cloud also doing his best to comfort his girlfriend. No one was looking forward to having to tell people what just happened.


	20. Dreadful News and Many Questions

The next day, which should have been a happy one, was very gloomy. The previous day had gone off swimmingly until the attack of the Remnants. Qrow, Glynda, Oobleck, Ironwood and Port had managed to fight off Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo, until the triplets retreated. The triplets brought many questions to everyone at the arena and those who were watching at home, one of which was why Team ZARC, a team of Beacon first years, were so important. Team ZARC knew they had many questions to answer from their friends and were relieved that their friends would hold off until the next day, after the announcement that would be made about the attack rather than the winner of the tournament. That night, Team RWBY and the remaining members of Team JNPR stayed with Team ZARC in their dorm, knowing that Pyrrha needed the most support at witnessing a close friend and her partner die literally in her arms.

When morning finally struck, the eleven friends head to the auditorium as that was where Ozpin would be having his speech. Pyrrha stayed very close to Cloud, her face still tear stained as her dreams had been filled with Jaune's death. Ruby stayed close to Reno, her heart going out to Pyrrha. Aerith was in a similar situation and was on the other side of Pyrrha, gripping her hand as she stayed close to Zack. They all found a spot close to the stage as it was only right that they were right there. Team SSSN had joined them, giving their silent support. The auditorium filled quickly and quietly. Faints whispers echoed throughout the room and once Ozpin stepped onto the stage, the room fell completely silent. Ozpin walks up to the microphone and takes a deep breath.

"This morning, we are gathered not to celebrate the victor of the Vytal Festival but to acknowledge what had happened yesterday. As you are all aware, three interesting individuals searching for Team ZARC attacked the arena. This was meant to be a distraction so that another force could strike me. Team ZARC was informed by an outside source about this attack and made the decision to ditch the tournament to come to my aid. Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc of Team JNPR came along with them since they ran into their fellow team. The objective of this terrorist strike was to not only take me out but a very dear friend of mine. I do not know why they wanted to attack myself and my friend, but they clearly wanted to strike fear into the hearts of many. Mr. Arc and Miss Nikos were the first to encounter this powerful enemy while Team ZARC helped to run a perimeter sweep around my office. And it is because of this encounter that I deliver this grave news with a heavy heart - Jaune Arc was slain," Ozpin says. Many gasps and shouts of outrage sound about the auditorium. Glynda steps forward.

"Everyone! Please! Clamor down! Headmaster Ozpin has more to say!" Glynda calls out. After a few minutes, the noise settles down, allowing Ozpin to speak once more.

"However, due to Mr. Arc's sacrifice, we only lost one life instead of multiples. The culprit was shortly apprehended by Team ZARC, thanks to Miss Nikos's and Mr. Arc's valiant efforts. We should not mourn Jaune Arc, but instead celebrate him and remember him. He was a true Huntsman and his sacrifice and death should inspire us all to strive to become the best that we can be so something like this never happens again. There will be a funeral tomorrow for Mr. Arc," Ozpin finishes. The crowd slowly starts to filter out of the auditorium and soon enough, only Teams ZARC and RWBY, the NPR of JNPR, Sun and Mercury Black remain in the auditorium. Ozpin motions for the thirteen to follow him, Glynda and Qrow. The movement to Ozpin's office was a quiet and depressive one, Team ZARC and Pyrrha feeling the depression settle in more as they got closer. Once in his office, Ozpin waits for everyone to get settled.

"Headmaster... What is it that you wanted to talk to us about..?" Ruby's small voice speaks up.

"We're going to answer all the questions you guys have shortstack," Reno says softly.

"Then why am I here? I kinda know about you guys.." Mercury says. Zack looks at him.

"Well you're the reason why Beacon is still standing. You told us about Cinder," Zack answers.

"Additionally Mr. Black, you could be an inside source of information as to what's happening behind the shadows. And you'll need a place to stay that'll keep you protected from these people," Ozpin says.

"If you're suggesting I take this Jaune guy's spot on their team, I'm not doing it," Mercury says. Ozpin shakes his head.

"No, I wasn't going to have you become team leader. Though if it's alright with Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, I would like to add you to their team. Either way, I'm making Miss Nikos the new team leader," Ozpin says. Pyrrha's eyes widen upon hearing that.

"I'm fine with Mercury joining, as much as it'll hurt but.. Why make me team leader? I couldn't help keep Jaune safe.. He died protecting me!" Pyrrha says, her eyes watering up.

"Because I believe that's what Mr. Arc would have wanted. I think he would have wanted you to take his position as team leader and lead on in his memory," Ozpin says. Pyrrha solemnly nods after a moment, accepting that reasoning.

"Like Pyrrha said, Mercury can join even though it'll hurt," Nora says, Ren nodding in agreement.

"Is that alright with you Mr. Black?" Ozpin asks, looking at the silver haired male.

"Sure I guess," Mercury says. Ozpin nods.

"Very well then. In honor of Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos will become the new team leader of Team PRMN (Persimmon)," Ozpin says. "And now for the other part - questions for Team ZARC."

"Where do we even begin? There are so many things that don't make any sense!" Weiss says.

"Maybe you can start by explaining who those three were and why they were searching for you?" Ren says.

"Well I think it'll just be best if we explain everything from the beginning," Zack says, frowning a bit. And with that, Team ZARC take turns explaining once more about Gaia, their early deaths and how they ended up on Remnant. Cloud and Reno were the most worried as they didn't know how their girlfriends would react to them not being from this world and having not been completely truthful about who they were. Additionally, Qrow was not happy that his nieces were brought into this, but he knew it couldn't be helped considering how close they were to Team ZARC. After the explanation, Teams RWBY and PRMN and Sun take a few minutes to digest the information. Reno and Cloud waited in agony as they awaited the reactions of their girlfriends. Ruby was the first to recover and she hugs Reno tightly.

"Huh? Shortstack? You're not angry?" Reno asks, surprise on his face. He does return the hug however.

"Not at you. I understand why you didn't tell us. I'm angry at this Sephiroth guy and his Remnants!" Ruby says quietly.

"How could we be mad at you guys? You guys died and were given a second chance," Pyrrha says, taking Cloud's hands into hers. Cloud was relieved and he pulls Pyrrha into a hug, holding her close. Pyrrha hugged back and stayed like that.

"So you guys are basically aliens," Yang comments. Weiss just looks at Yang.

"THAT'S what you gather from this? ALIENS?!" Weiss says, her voice getting shrilly towards the end.

"I mean, that's just out of this world!" Yang says with a grin. Team ZARC laughs lightly at Yang's attempt to lighten up the mood. Weiss and Ruby groan while Blake just shakes her head. Pyrrha and Nora giggle lightly in response while Ren and Mercury just sigh at the remark. Sun snickers as well, high-fiving the busty blonde.

"Not to bring down the mood.. But you have some explaining to do yourself, Mercury," Blake says, looking at Mercury.

"Right... My part in all of this..." Mercury says with a sigh. He rubs the back of his neck. "Well I was one of Cinder's underlings. She was the one that attacked Ozpin. We were working for someone," he starts out.

"How did you get involved with Cinder?" Reno asks. Mercury smiles wryly.

"Well, Cinder had gone to recruit my father for their little group as he was an assassin. Instead, they recruited me as I killed my own father," Mercury says, looking away. "And before you ask, the asshole deserved it and that's where I am leaving it."

"Fair enough.. And why did you betray Cinder?" Weiss asks, eyeing the silver haired youth next to them.

"After our plan to control the CCT failed, and I was facing off against Zack, I knew that I was on the losing side. Call it cowardly, but I know when I'm on the losin' side," Mercury answers.

"What is Cinder's goal?" Cloud asks, wondering what the woman was trying to achieve.

"She wanted the Fall Maiden's power for one. And she's helping some woman by the name of Salem. I don't know the exact details but yeah, this is all for this Salem lady. Never met her face to face," Mercury answers. Ozpin's face pales upon hearing the name Salem. Team ZARC was also worried upon hearing Salem as it would seem their suspicions about the Remnants working with this... woman... were correct.

"And the Remnants of Sephiroth.. They are also helping Salem?" Ozpin asks, steadying his voice.

"Yeah but from my understanding it's more of a 'I help you, you help me' sort of thing. Those four are proving to be a huge obstacle in Salem's way and the three of them want their mother back. The Remnants remove Zack, Aerith, Reno and Cloud out of the picture completely and then Salem helps to bring back their mother," Mercury says.

"Is that even possible? Jenova isn't even completely whole and isn't even their mother!" Cloud groans.

"I'm not sure if that is entirely possible... But it is a dangerous motivator for certain," Ozpin says. Zack and Reno look at each other and nod before standing up.

"We're going to go interrogate Cinder. She might have more information that she can give us," Reno says. With that, the two head out of Ozpin's office. They knew where Cinder was at the moment since they were there to bring her into captivity. The fire in both of their eyes had sent chills down their friends' spines as both Zack and Reno usually didn't express that much anger. The two make their way to the confinement room that Cinder was being detained in. Cinder looks up when she hears the door opening and her orange eyes widen in fear upon seeing Zack and she tries to get away from the wolf Faunus, only to be grabbed and restrained by said wolf Faunus. Zack's grip was tight and it was obvious that he wasn't letting go anytime soon and resistance was futile. She then looks at Reno when she stopped struggling.

"What do you want?" Cinder sneers at the redhead.

"Info lady. Now I'm not above using torture to get information out of you but for the sake of Zack and my friends, I'm going to give you the chance to give the information up freely with no pain," Reno says, smirking a bit. He knew Zack would not approve of the torture but to intimidate Cinder, he flicks out his EMR and twirls it. "So... What do you say~?"

"What do I get out of telling you the information Mercury didn't have besides not getting tortured?" Cinder says, watching the EMR warily. Reno wasn't surprised that Cinder was able to figure out that it was Mercury who sold her out.

"Let's see... You cooperate and I'll see if I can work out a deal with Oz cause you're certainly not going back to Salem to continue your dirty work. Maybe get you some sort of protection from getting tossed into prison or getting the death penalty... Work for us and we keep you safe sort of thing. Work behind the scenes, live, ya know?" Reno offers. Cinder goes quite for a moment before sighing.

"I suppose I'll help. It's either die here or try to live and possibly die by Salem's hand..." Cinder answers.

"Wonderful! Let's begin then, shall we?" Reno smirks. Zack loosens his grip on Cinder and Cinder's interrogation begins.


End file.
